


Dark Abyss

by Chimera_69



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood Kink, Bondage, Multi, S&M, Self-Harm, Sexual Content, Suicidal Thoughts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-06
Updated: 2018-07-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 16:06:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 62,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14877012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chimera_69/pseuds/Chimera_69
Summary: The water below looked dark and still, reflecting the lights and the old bridge above it. Yet underneath that mirror like surface, raged currents that tumbled around trash and small rocks. Anna wanted her life to end, she didn’t want a second chance, but she got it anyway... In the world of Voltron: Legendary Defenders.





	1. Falling Into The Dark Abyss

**Author's Note:**

> I am the original creator of this story in the process of transferring some of my work over from FanFiction.net to this new account. Most of the chapters will be the same with a few added details that where/are not allowed on FF. This was originally meant to be therapeutic so it will not always stick to the tags,

**~Chapter One: Falling Into The Dark Abyss~**

When walking down a busy street people except to be safe, that nothing is wrong as they walk among the colorful leaves of Autumn. Families with children taking a stroll to the park, couples lovingly cuddling to stay warm in the slight chill, singles just enjoying the season with their overpriced pumpkin spice lattes, artisans looking for inspiration for their next master piece. Nothing is wrong, but not many people look past the surface of a seemingly picturesque moment of real life.

They don't see the homeless vagabonds that populate the park in secret, searching for gullible people to enable their bad habits of alcohol and drugs. There are still people with over priced Pumpkin spice lattes, not caring for anything that didn't involve themselves or anything on their expensive new phones. Self absorbed women gossiping as young children roughly played on the decades old playground equipment. A group of young men, with poorly concealed guns, tucked hazardly into the bands of their baggy pants, looking at everyone that passed with contempt and hostility.

Anna gave a sigh as she shivered her normally golden eyes dulled to yellow, unfocused as they glanced around at the park her family used to go to. Ghosts of the past ran and played around the rusted old playground, echoes of children laughing cruelly played in her ears. The cold bite of air chomped at her skin under the large black jacket and exposed bruised face, black and blue distorting her lightly tanned skin.

No one questioned or even looked at her as she made her way to an old wooden bridge, a few planks plagued with rot and some completely missing forming holes big enough for a small child to fall threw. "It's not condemned?" she questioned softly as she looked at the fallen and defiled sign that lay on the ground.

** _Bridge Closed_ **

The letters where not very readable under the spray paint, but she knew what the sign looked like after two decades of it being posted. Sighing again, her faded black sneakers stepped on the rioting planks, the old wood crying out at the heavy weight of the young woman as she walked across the bridge until she was over the water. Carefully approaching the old railing, she reached out with a shivering blood stained hand, gripping the rotting wood gently as she approached to see over the rail. The water below looked dark and still, reflecting the flickering street lights and the old bridge above it. Yet underneath that mirror like surface, raged currents that tumbled around trash and small rocks.

Anna could see her reflection among the trash, bruised and bloody from events prior, most of the blood soaked into the black fabric of her clothes and hair with some specks staining her skin. Trembling a few tears escaped from her eyes as she leaned forward on the rails.

There was a loud crack and following splash, only a few turned to look for the source of the sound. A few noticing the missing railing from the old bridge before going back to their lives. Never hearing someone struggling in the water... then again Anna didn't struggle as she let the cold water wash away the blood and cooled her bruises. Letting the dark abyss take her away with the rest of the trash.

**_~Voltron~_ **

Anna's eyes flew open suddenly in shock, gasping and choking on air. Her body trying to curl in on itself but restraints around her ankles and wrists prevented it.

"What the?" Anna croaked out as she looked at the restraints, eyes squinting agents the bright light above her, squirming around she could feel another metal like restraint around her waist. "What's going on he-he-rear?" she stuttered as her head fell back and a strange masked person appeared in her view. A long white bird like mask with six glowing yellow eyes stared down at her, a dark purple robe hiding what the mask didn't.

"Subject 195 is awake." A deep voice came from behind the mask, making Anna shiver in slightly warm room, as it moved away getting something that looked like a large syringe filled with light purple liquid. "The experiment can now commence." It said with a rather sinister tone as all the color drained from Anna's once lightly tanned skin as an overly large needle pierced her skin, injecting the strange liquid into her veins.

**PAIN**

That was all she could comprehend as they gave her a more needles filled with that strange liquid, it only stopped once her heart exploded in her chest. At least it felt like it did when blood spilled from every hole in her body, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and even her neither regions. A bright white was all she could see before being greeted by a black abyss. Feeling something sharp seep out from her bones, pricing muscle, fat, and other organs as they cut open her skin from the inside, down her arms, her legs her back neck and even her head.

It was painful, she wanted to scream but wasn't sure if she could, trying to fill her punctured lungs with oxygen, only giving out a strange wheezing noise with each breath she tried to take. The pain dulled away as she became numb, relaxing as her vision cleared to see three cloaked and masked people in the operating room, or whatever they called it, standing around and watching her suffer. Anger flashed into her system before being over written by sudden pain, muffled sounds entered her bleeding ears but she could not comprehend what the strange beings where saying to one another as they turned their backs to her.

"Failure."

Anna stopped breathing as the beings disappeared, frozen by the one word she could understand.

 _'Fail...ure?'_ she questioned before her senses gave out again, greeting the dark abyss once again.

**_~Voltron~_ **

It was cold.

That was the first thing Anna noticed as she was arouse form the abyss again, disappointed.

 _'I thought it would be the last time... why can't I just die already?_ ' She thought as some tears welled into her eyes, only to be blinked away as her amber eyes looked into surprised yellow eyes of a purple creature.

"You're still alive?" it asked in a surprised tone, looking down at her with pity. "You are rather reliant for such a young cub. The other subjects usually died during the first injection." It said, confusing and depressing Anna who let out a strange bark of disbelief. _'Of course... When one wants to meet Death, he reschedules.'_ She thought bitterly as they slowly closed their eyes, only to fly open as the sound of the restraints retracting surprised her. The purple being looking determined about something as it looked at her.

"Can you sit up?" it asked, Anna wanted to roll her eyes at him but slowly she tried to sit up for the first time in what felt like centuries.

_'Shit!'_

Anna cursed in her mind at the pain moving caused, even carefully moving muscles she had not used for so long, even simply sitting up was agonizingly painful. Blinking away the dark edges of her vision she could see she was not dressed in her baggy dark clothes, but a maroon and gray body suit, with what looked like small lavender crystals growing out of her skin like hair, all over her legs, arms, chest and she dreaded where else she would find them growing.

'What the hell!?' Anna questioned as she painfully moved her legs off the table to drape down the side, carefully flexing her stiff toes, before slipping off the table. A sudden and massive wave of pain ran threw her feet and threw her body, her legs gave out and made her plummet to the floor, only the unyielding force of the floor wasn't felt. Instead it was something like soft, warm fur that brushed ageists her sensitive skin. Golden eyes widen as they looked at the purple being whom had its arms under her back and knees, picking her up as easily as if she was a small child, walking out of the room and into a dark purple hall way.

Anna stared at the creature… its purple fur with lavender stripes on his head looked very familiar. Yellow eyes looked down at her, giving a strange and foreign smile. "No one will hurt you again little one. I will make sure of it." It told her in a rather protective, fatherly sort of tone. Anna stared at it, him, for a while as his quick pace, soft breathing, and clam pulse soothed her senses.

Slowly her eyes shut again, this time the dark abyss was warm and furry.

**_~Voltron~_ **

Anna didn't want to wake up, slowly becoming aware of things around her. She was on her front, laying on something like a bed; she couldn't sleep on her sides or her back for several reasons beside the pain and weird gems poking out of her skin. The strange suit she was in was gone, and she was dressed in a slik night gown that went down to her ankles, little bows decorated the straps that ran over her thin shoulders and one just above her rather aching chest. The gown feeling like smooth silk compared to the well worn blue blanket was draped over her and a pillow that smelled soothingly familiar to her. Wrapping her arms around it, she buried her face in it to breath in the scent, trying to place it before someone knocked one the door.

She tensed at the sudden noise, door slid open before she could even think to respond.

"Rise and shine little one, it's time to eat." A recognizable voice called out; opening one golden eye she saw the purple being who took her away from the strange place and the painful experiments. He was holding a tray of what she assumed was food; a little steam was rising from the bowl and a glass with clear liquid with it. She blinked slowly as he came closer, stopping as he set the tray down on what looked to be a table that folded out of the wall.

"Can you sit up again?" he asked gently, making Anna blink owlishly. Carefully she arched her back, several loud cracks filling the room, moving her legs slowly to come under her body as she pressed one hand into the bed, the other still hugging the pillow, folding her legs in front of her as she held the pillow to her chest for comfort. She stared at the purple furred creature in confusion and curiosity, her vision oddly blurry.

"That's a good girl, can you hold this?" he asked, smiling gently while holding out what looked like a spoon.

Carefully Anna reached out to grab it, the crystals on her skin looking more like shimmering scales then crystals. She grabbed it carefully and took it from the furred creature. She was shaking noticeably and the spoon slipped from her weak fingers. She flinched, screwing her eyes tightly, expecting the clattering of the spoon and to be punished for her failure to complete a simple task.

"Hmm. Seems you're not able to. I'll feed you myself, but just for today." She heard the purple furred creature say, popping her eyes open in surprise. She saw the spoon in his hand, as his other hand reached for the bowl of some warm stew. Dipping the spoon in it, he gently blew on the burnt orange colored concoction before holding it out in front of her mouth steadily. Looking at it unsurely before taking a careful sniff, smelling something like meat and exotic spices coming from it. She looked at the spoon and then at the creature for a brief moment before staring at the offered food again.

The furry creature noticed her reluctance even as her mouth watered and stomach roared , demanding to be filled. A frown crossed his lips as he looked at her, seeing a very frightened and meek creature that wouldn't hurt a fly, or even could in her current state of health.

Recalling the scarce information on Subject 195: she was subjected to experimentation and injections for only a few Quintents, with no mention of where she came from or even where she was acquired in their meticulously kept records. The druids where forcefully splicing foreign DNA stands into a living being, let alone one past it's normal growth stage, it was an insane idea that was pointless. This little one looked like she had tried to fight off the druids at some point, judging by the extra restraints, only to fail as they forced her to change. She survived each experiment by a slender hair, until the latest injection... her body finally giving out, and the Druids declared her a failure. He was tasked with deposing of the body, and he did... just not how they wished he did. The little one was still alive, much to his amazement, but she was no longer the same form before the druids experiments.

White hair that looked more like strands of white crystals spilled over her shoulders in slight waves down her back; her skin retained its tanned coloring, small lavender crystals doted her cheek bones, eyes were bighting form their dull yellow to gold, outlined with beautiful full dark lashes, bones visible under her skin that was not already covered by the painful looking crystals, jutting out like unwanted hairs.

"Eat little one." He voiced with concern as he saw her lips press shut as she moved backwards slightly, looking away from him as she hugged the pillow closer. "It's okay, look." He sighed and brought the spoon to his mouth and gave a satisfied noise but she still looked at him with suspicion. "It's not poised, and you need to eat." He told her but Anna only bit her lip in concern. The furred creature sighed and set the bowl and spoon down before turning to leave before he realized something.

"My name is Ulaz, Little one. I wish for you to come and trust me. You are going to be here for a very long time." Anna blinked at his words, watching his retreating back before the door closed behind him, a small beep was heard from the other side, presumably to lock her in. She looked over at the food left for her before looking around at the room it self. It was small with a single bed, a closet and a small book self above what looked to be desk with books, paper, and pens.

Curious, she carefully stood up on shaky legs, abandoning the pillow on the bed, to slowly reach the desk. Looking curiously at the all books, seeing strange symbols instead of familiar letters. Ignoring the food she reached out for the cover of one book, flipping it open to a random page that made her golden eyes sparkle with excitement at the familiar looking illustration.

**_~Voltron~_ **

In a large darkly lit room stood several masculine masked and hooded beings, all surrounding a smaller, more feminine shaped masked being, hood down with a bright white mane of hair pulled back into a high wavy ponytail practically glowing in the dark room. "Are you ready little one?" a deep voice asked, getting a small nod from the female in the middle before one of the males broke from the circle, carrying something that looked like a dagger in hand before offering it to the little one... blade first.

With an ungloved hand she wrapped her fingers around the blade tightly, drawing dark purple blood that slowly coated the blade.

"Do you swear your life to the Blade of Marmora?" he asked, mask tilted down to look as the female.

"I swear my life to the Blade." She spoke confidently, gripping the dagger tighter, letting out more blood.

"Will you keep its secrets, and do whatever is in your power to bring down Zarkon?" the male asked, a loud silence filling the room. "I will do what I see fit, to free everyone form Zarkon's Iron fisted rule." She said with confidence, as the silence reigned over the group... for several ticks, waiting for her to continue the pledge. "And it's secrets?" the male prompted, not sounding very happy, but the female was quite for a bit too long. "Little one." He growled out, getting anger before she let out a sigh.

"A far as Zarkaon is concerned, there is no Blade of Marmora trying to over throw him." she responded, before the male gave a deep growl. "That is why we take its secrets into the next world, and so will you." He said sternly as the female tilted her head slightly.

"I will take its secrets with me to the next world. Happy now?" she asked, and he gave a snort in reply as a few others around him chuckled quietly.

"Then by this blade, you hear by give your body, mind, and soul to our cause." He said before letting go of the hilt, the symbol engraved on it glowed a bright lavender as the small dagger grew in length and became thinner, making a slight curve at the tip before the symbol changed into another, it's glow fading. The female grabbed the handle of the new katana with her other hand, reading the familiar symbol on the hilt.

"Heart." she mused softly, running a bloody finger over it with pride.

"Welcome to the Blade of Marmora, Devine." The male said sternly but as soon as he did the other members eagerly approached the small female. "Glad to officially have you join us Litt-Ah, Devine." Another male spoke, correcting himself as the female took off her mask. Exposing her sparkling golden eyes and excited smile that stretched across her lightly tanned face, glowing white markings on her cheek bones and exposing her feline like teeth with glee.

"Thanks. It's gonna be nice not hearing everyone calling me little one for a change." She responded, looking over the group of her mentors and teachers with a slowly dropping smile. "Hey... where's Master Ulaz?" she asked, her mood damping before another, a much larger male ruffled her hair with his large hand. "Not to worry. He left to set The Champion free, just like you have been begging Kolivan to let you do." He informed her as she let out an excited squeal as her white hair glowed.

"Really! He believed me!?" she asked, bouncing on her heals excitedly even as the others scoffed. "Yes, but Ulaz always indulges you with those child's tales." Golden eyes narrowed at the one who said that. "It's not just a story! It's real! Voltron will be coming back to help us defeat Zarkon." she declared adamantly, as the room grew quiet. Anna, or Devine as she was renamed in this new reality, could feel their sadness and frustration with her seemly childish belief. She turned to the largest member in the group.

"You believe me, right?" she looked at him with large eyes and a pout, fluttering her dark lashes up at him cutely.

"Agh! Y-yes, of course I do, but we know Zarkon has recently found the red lion. Who knows if he has found the others, or if they even still exist." The large male reasoned before Devine gave him a confident smirk. "They do exist! That's why I'm going to Arus to help them." she declared as there was a collective sigh all around her.

"You can't just take off to some far off planet, based on an ancient child's tale. There are other things you can do to help right here."

Devine rolled her eyes at the masked male before smirking.

"Yeah, but that child's tale has a big red, mecha cat of evidence. At some point those stories must be true. I can finely show you the universe is trying to correct itself. The lions will find new Paladins and form Voltron once again." She stood confidently and pointed her new sword in a seeming random direction, envisioning the 10,000 year old Galra Leader standing before the tip of her blade.

"They will help set us free from Zarkon." She declared, serious as there was a moment of silence among them.

"Do you even know where Arus is?" A male asked after a while, not convinced. "Found the coordinates ages ago, and I already programmed it into a small craft I'm taking there." Devine responded proudly, securing the katana on her left hip. "What about supplies?" a different male spoke up. "There's also a castle waiting on Arus with supplies. All it needs are the lions." She supplied him an answer, but that still did not ease the group's worries.

"What about the Paladins?"

"I have some extra clothes that will help me blend in with them. Other than that, I think we'll get along very nicely." She crossed her arms over her chest with pride.

"What of the locals of Arus?"

Devine rolled her eyes at the question, pouting.

"They're a peaceful, primitive tribe of cute little creatures a third my size, I'm more likely to hug them than fight them." She placed both hands on her wide hips and glared at them.

"I'm not the same little one Master Ulaz brought in for training so long ago. He trained me just as hard as all of you have for the past few years! I'm faster, stronger, smarter, and far more skilled then when you first met me. I even have my own connections to help me bring down Zarkon." She smiled softly looking at each member who each took time to teach her something. They taught her how to fight hand to hand, use various weapons, to survive on several different types of planets, how to read and write in the Galra's language, among a few other things that interested her. They didn't have to, but they fed her thrust for knowledge and drive to understand the Galra culture all the same, she could feel how proud they were of her. Even making connections out side their secretive group to further expand their allies.

"You have yet to land a simple spacecraft safely." Someone spoke up from behind the group, they all looked at their leader, with his arms crossed over his chest, Devine could tell he was feeling assured about that one little detail, making her roll her eyes. "I don't need to know how to pilot, Master Kolivan. I'm only going a few galaxies away and form there I will be support or back-up. It's not like the lions will choose me any way." She reasoned sadly.

"And what of the incident with the red lion?" He asked her, making her cringe at the memory of her first failed mission. "That was just a flute, I'm no paladin. The true paladins will arrive on Arus in the next few Quintents, right in front of the Castel of Lions with The Blue Lion, Sapphire." She explained as their leader shook his head at the silly prediction. "Even if you do not become a paladin of Voltron, I will not allow you to leave here without being able to land safely."

"WHAT! You can't do that you're not the boss of- You're not my DAD! " She yelled, correcting herself but still getting an amused chuckle from the Blade's leader as he faced her. "I may not be your father young lady, but I am your Master. Ulaz left you in my care, and as a member of the Blade of Marmora, you will follow my orders. Do I make myself clear, Little One?" He mocked her before leaving her glaring at his back, but he missed her lips fighting to pull up in a smirk.

_'You're not gonna stop me.'_

**_~Voltron~_ **

Devine frowned as she looked at her back in the mirror, the top portion of her suit peeled off down to her waist, with a back exposing white top covering her chest and stomach. While on her back where hundreds of small, multi colored shards growing out of her skin.

"I just harvested two bags full yesterday." She pouted carefully pulling out a clear colored shard from her back, only to wince at the small pain it caused. "It'll be fine for the next few Quintents... hopefully…" She sighed as she looked around her semi dark room. A backpack was sitting on the bed, packed with a few supplies and a change of earth clothes, along with her Katana in its new sheath, and a belt with several pockets resting on top of her notebook and a book Ulaz had gifted her before he left to rescue the Champion, wanting to see the human before he would forget their shared experience.

Devine took a deep calming breath, letting it out slowly before slipping back into her suit again. She picked up the belt and slipped it across her body, placing the Katana on her back before she picked up her backpack and the books, heading for the door. It slipped open as she poked her head into the quiet hall way, looking both ways before completely leaving her room to make her way to the docking bay...

Leaving behind a simple note on her bed before finding small ship and prepare it to leave for Arus.

**_~Voltron~_ **

"Whew~ That was easier then I thought it would be." Devine mussed as she set her bag into the cock pit before settling into the pilot seat, turning the ship on and checking the systems before it was closed behind her. A smile slowly bloomed on her lips as she turned on the auto pilot as it set a course for Arus. The engines came to life just as the hanger doors opened to the dark abyss of space. "I never thought I would ever be flying into outer space, or meeting soon to be Legendary Defenders~." She giggled, her mind wondering to the future paladins for a moment until a familiar purple face appeared on a communication screen, not looking to happy.

Devine let out a yelp of surprise before Kolivan started to speak.

"I don't know if I should be impressed or disappointed with you, Little one." He frowned at her, as she gave a nervous smile. "How about impressed?" she suggested but he ignore her response. "Regardless, you have been trained well by the other members and I see you are adamant about meeting these, Paladins. So you are free to do as you wish..."

"Yes! Thank you!" She cheered abruptly, but he did not stop speaking...

"So long as you do not crash into anything along your way." he finished and Devine quickly realized that it was a recording, before she could say anything lese the ship took off into space, the auto pilot disengaged but the coordinates still locked into the system. "Good Luck." Where his final words as the screen went blank, Devive desperately grabbing the rouge controls in panic, the accelerator blasting a max speed as she struggled to get control of the ship and suppress her fear of losing control.

From the dark control room Kolivan watched the ship disappear, its thrusters becoming one with the billions of stars around it before diapering from his perceived site within a few ticks. "Are you sure that was wise choice, Leader? Knowing who she truly is?" a masked blade member asked worriedly as the elder Galra closed his yellow eyes softly. "No, but we wouldn't be able to keep her from going regardless of who she is or isn't." he responded before walking away to his quarters.

**_~Voltron~_ **

It seemed to be another peaceful day for the Arusians, harvesting the fruits that grew in the trees, children playing, women cleaning and cooking. All while their king shared the words of their Lion goddess with them. It was just like any other day on Arus and it was rather boring for one young male Arusian that was a few miles away from the lively village.

"Yah!" he gave a battle cry as he imagined fighting several bad guys with a stick that acted like his mighty sword. "Take that! You evil fiends! Ha! Ho! HA! Fall before my- might?" the Arusian trailed off as he heard a strange sound in the sky, looking up he saw a ship bellowing black smoke from one of its engines, barely skimming the tree tops before it plowed into the ground with great force.

"Invaders!" He squeaked out in panic, dropping his stick to run to his village, only to stop within a few feet as he realized something. "No! I am a brave warrior! And warriors do not run from danger." He declared, picking up his discarded stick before running to find the ship's crash site. Silently praying to the goddess that he would get her blessing for fighting bravely.

**_~Voltron~_ **

"Quiznak~." Devine cursed as she separated herself from the console of the ship, red light flooding the cockpit along with smoke. "Why do I always mess up on the landing?" She grumbled before picking up her bag and kicking open the door letting the thick smoke out as she escaped. Once her feet hit the dirt she started run to a safe distance form a pending explosion.

"Hold it right there evil invad-ER?!" The Arusian warrior jumped in front of her, pointing his stick sword at her, only to be picked up hastily in her dash. The Arusian was confused and terrified at the dark, masked being that grabbed him, he didn't fight it as it threw it's rather soft and warm body over him, curing around him protectively for a few moments before looking back at the ship.

"It didn't explode?" just as she asked the ship blew up into tiny pieces and flames. "Spoke to soon." Devine sighed before looking down at the Arusian she had covered, her breasts slowly suffocating it. "Sorry! Are you okay?" She asked, quickly pulling away as the Arusian took a deep breath. "Are you hurt?" she asked as it seemed to catch its breath before it glared at her, nearly poking her mask with the stick.

"S-stay back invader! I am the Arusian's greatest warrior!" it declared, visibly trembling and stuttering. "I-I will not let y-you take my home!" he declared with as much confidence as he could. "Awww~." Devive cooed before putting her hands up with open palms."I'm not here to invade anyone." She then separated her ring and middle fingers on both hands to from a V. "I come in peace."

"Y-you look like an e-evil invader! I-i will not fall for your t-tricks!" it glared at her and flinched as she reached for her mask, taking it off to show her face before slipping off her hood in the process, letting her waist length white hair free to glow in the sun light. "Does this really look like a face of evil?" she asked him with a soft smile as he looked at her in awe, lowering the stick.

"What are you?" he asked confused and then startled as Devine stood up to her full height. "Well I was human, but now... I'm the liaison for The Paladins of Voltron." She announced proudly but only got a confused look form the Arusian. "What's a Voltron?" it asked, making Devine's eyes widen in surprise before she realized something.

"Oh! Right, your people have stories about a Lion Goddess."

"Y-you know the Lion Goddess!" Klyzap shouted in disbelief, looking up at the strange creature before him. "Well... no. I know of her, and that soon there will be five lions coming together in the sky to bring peace to the known universe." She told him as he looked at her with wide eyes and open mouth. "You... are you an oracle?" the Arusian asked unsurely as Devine bit her lip. "No, I just know how the universe will try and correct itself. It's been 10,000 years, so something must be in motion and I want to help with that." She told the little Arusian, looking down with a small smile holding out her gloved hand.

"Will you help me?" she asked as the small creature looked at her hand and then up at her face.

**_~Voltron~_ **

"How much longer is Sapphire gonna take?" Devine groaned as she lay out on the soft grass in the ruins of the Castle of Lion's courtyard. Sighing she looked up at the blue skies with fluffy white clouds scattered everywhere. It was the same sky she had stared at for the past two Quintents just waiting for the Blue Lion to deliver the Paladins to Arus to start off their grand destinies. The wait was painfully long despite entertaining herself and mingling with the odd Arusian natives before she became unconfutable with their king's rule. She took this extra time to think of what she would say to the young humans so far from home or anything familiar to Earth.

"I should really be softly friendly. They would be understandably scared and confused about all this. Hunk will want to go back, so a bit of positive encouragement would be good. Lance would fall for the sleeping cutie in the castle bit. Keith and Katie will be a bit harder, as for Shiro-" she trailed off, blushing as she thought of the handsome leader with a fond smile.

"He'll probably make sure they all stick together, hook him and I can get them all. I wonder... if he will even remember me?" She questioned before sitting up, looking at her hands that rested on top of her legs, clad in dark purple jeans, with her feet in gray and black sneaker like shoes, while a lavender tank top and utility belt were hidden under her favorite baggy black jacket, along with some fingerless black gloves, exposing the pointed, lavender colored shards that replaced her finger nails being part of her Human disguise. Nervously she twirled a finger in her lose white hair. At first glace just looks as white as fresh snow, but a closer look with bright light, the strands had a rainbow of colors while still being just as soft and thick as her original hair had been. She then set the strand behind her pointed ear, before rubbing at the white V shaped markings on her cheek bones, making her look like an Altean. An attempt to ease the still sleeping Alteans inside the locked castle into trusting her.

Turing golden eyes back to the sky for the trillionth time, she finally saw something a bit different. A speck that was slowly becoming larger or getting closer.

"Sapphire?" she called out standing up as she could see a four legged shape forming, it's colors nearly matching the sky until it got closer. The blue Lion's yellow eyes glowed in greeting as Devine's golden eyes glowed back in response hearing a roar of greeting resound inside her head, flowing threw her bones and over her skin. She shivered at the feeling but smiled once the Blue Lion was close enough to be seen clearly. The down draft the Lion made while landing blew at her clothes and hair as she admired its majesty.

"This... is... happening~" Devine grinned widely as the blue lion's paws hit the ground, making lose dirt and rocks jump from its sudden weight, her body was really glowing and her eyes where nearly sparking as the Lion's head came down to let out it's passengers. "Okay. Just relax Devine, no need to over whelm them on the first day." She spoke to herself, taking a deep breath and letting it out before putting on a clam smile as the Lion's mouth opened to let out it's passengers. Five pairs of eyes stared at her in confusion, making her slightly nervous, her smile damping as two pairs narrowed at her in suspicion as they disembarked the lion.

"It's about time you guys got here. Was getting worried you might have taken the wrong wormhole for a bit there." She said calmly, slightly joking as they all looked at her in surprise and confusion.

"Um? Does anyone else see the talking ball of light?" The Big yellow one, Hunk asked looking at her unsurely.

"Ball of light?" Devine questioned before she glanced at her hair and blushed as she saw it was giving off its own light. "Oh! Sorry, I kinda glow when I'm overly excited. You can call me Devine, and I will be your liaison for this little um... adventure into the final frontier." She announced with a bit of nervousness as they just stared at her, the glow diming to more reasonable levels as anxiety bubbled in her chest at their reactions.

"You knew we were coming?" The shortest one in green asked first, sounding surprised.

"Kinda. I was off by a few Quintents, but now that Sapphire's brought you-"

"Sapphire?" The scrawny one in blue, Lance interrupted in confusion, Devine stopped herself before biting her lip. "Yeah, it's kinda the name of the Blue Lion behind you. At least that's what I call her." She motioned to the lion as she closed her mouth once the humans where all clear. Devine could feel a soft purr reverberating through her body along with a warm feeling.

"Did you make this thing?" The One in red, Keith asked as he pointed a thumb back at the lion. "No, and her name is Sapphire, or Safie if you want to make it cute and short." She frowned at Keith, crossing her arms as she gave him a stern look and he looked taken aback at her response.

"Okay... Devine, can you tell us why Sapphire brought us here?" Shiro asked, making Devine light up again, as Shiro, the soon to be leader of Voltron and the new Black Paladin right before her. "To bright! To bright!" Pidge and the others quickly looked away before they where blinded, as Devine nervously dimed, embarrassed. "Sorry, about that. Safie brought all of you here to help defeat Emperor Zarkon, and end his long tyrannical reign of terror over the known universe." She told them seriously as they looked at her with wide eyes.

"Nope! Sorry, I think you have the wrong guys in a blue lion. So... how do we get back to Earth?" Hunk asked nervously as Devine shook her head. "Sorry to disappoint, but Earth is several trillion light-years away, it would be easier to just face Zarkon then try and go back to Earth. Either way you will still have to face him." she explained and she could feel Hunk was nervous and scared.

"So we will have to face Zarkon, now or later." Shiro asked, as Devine nodded grimly. "Yes, Sapphire and four other lions, with suitable paladins, are needed to from the legendary mecha, Voltron."

"Wow, you sure know a lot about this stuff for such a little kid." Lance was saying as he reached out a hand to pat Devine on the head as if she was a child. She flinched when she saw his hand reach for her head, she grabbed his wrist with a firm hold, giving him an annoyed glare and low growl out of reflex.

"I am NOT a little kid, even by your planet's standards." She corrected him, giving his wrist a good squeeze before letting it go. The blue paladin cupped his wrist and looked at her with slight fear. "Right, you're a strong... whatever you are." Lance said unsurely, looking at the odd collection of human and non human traits Devine had exposed. "I'm human... or... mentally I'm still kinda am.." she sheepishly admitted, tucking her hands into the jacket pockets, this got their interest just as expected.

"You're human? W-what happened to you?" Pidge asked, looking a bit paler, along with Shiro who clenched his Galra prosthetic arm. Devine looked away from them, admiring the castle for the hundredth time before looking at Shiro and then down at his arm. "You got the much nicer end of the Druids experimentations... and I rather not remember my experience with them either." She let out a sigh, cringing at the phantom feeling of needles plunging into her skin. Shiro looking at her in confusion but still understanding the sentiment.

"We so not prepared for this." Hunk voiced before turning to the blue lion."Excuse me, Miss Sapphire, but could you take me home now... please?" he pleaded with the still lion, fear clearly coming off him. "You can't leave now. The Princess is still waiting inside the castle, and it's rude to make a lady, let alone royalty wait." Devine declared, nearly smirking as Lance's attention was caught. "Princess?" He question eagerly, Devine had to bite her lip to stop from smiling, pointing at large doors of the Castel of Lions.

"Yes. She's been asleep in her castle since Zarkon's evil reign began. Waiting for her pla-"

"Say no more! Hold on princess, your prince is on his way!" Lance yelled confidently as he made his way across the bridge eagerly, not waiting for her to finish her prepared pitch. 'Got'em!' Devine mentally cheered as she looked at the others expectantly.

"What about the rest of you?" she asked as she walked over to her backpack and sword picking them up from their spot in the soft grass. Hearing some whispers from behind her, about her existence being to convenient. Devine frowned as she felt Keith's distrust, but reasoned her own worry away quickly. "Ugh, I think I'm gonna be sick." Hunk voiced, holding his upset stomach that gave a loud protest. This propped Devine to reach into her bag and pull out three things wrapped in leaves, holding them out to the large paladin in offering. "Here. This should help your stomach settle a little." Hunk looked at it with confusion.

"What is it? Can Human's eat this?" he asked worriedly as he took one, looking unsure. "Of course, it's a local treat made from the pulp of fruits and something akin to bread. It has a citrusy taste to it but the bead is a little sweet and the green leaf wrapping keeps it nice and soft." She explained, but the big guy seemed hesitant. Devine opened one and took a small bite out of the little delight, chewing then swallowing it quickly to speak.

"See, nothing to worry about." She tried to assure him as he unwrapped it and took a small bite, ignoring the childish temptation to act poisoned. Devine didn't hide her smile as his eyes lit up with surprise and the rest was quickly gone. "That was good, you got any more?" He asked, looking eager for another taste of the Arusian treat. "Hunk." Shiro scolded his gluttony, but Devine just laughed softly. "No worries, I have the recipe memorized, and I can always get more from the locals." She smiled as she gave Hunk another treat and finished her own.

"Besides I think two will be enough to settle his stomach away. Would you guys like some too?" she asked before they agreed to try it as well, also delighted with the taste. "It's not bad." Keith wrote it off, pouting all the same when the treat was gone.

"How long have you been here?" Shiro asked, finishing his treat almost as fast as the others. "Not long, the locals are friendly so there wasn't much trouble." She explained, putting away Lance's share for later, but she did not miss Hunk eyeing the treat. "What's with the sword then?" Keth asked, suspicious as he eyed her weapon with some interest. "Just because this planet is safe and peaceful doesn't mean they all are." She reasoned, looking over her shoulder at the sheathed katana, the Blade of Marmora insignia glittering in the sunlight. "So you've actually used it?" Pidge asked looking a little confused. "Not this one yet, but I've used other swords and weapons too." She informed the smallest paladin.

"Where did you get it?" Keith asked, looking a tad more interested, but Devine just gave a sad smile. "Sorry, that's a secret. Speaking of which..." She pressed an index finger to the tip of Hunk's nose as his eyes where wide in surprise at being caught trying to get Lance's treat out of her bag. "It's not polite to go through other people's things, young man." She scolded him as Hunk gave a nervous chuckle under the disapproving looks.

"Right. Sorry." He apologized nervously, glancing at Pidge for a moment before nervously scratching the back of his head. "It really helped to settle my stomach." Devine just gave him a kind smile. "You're welcome, but please don't try that again. Even if you return the items it's still very rude." She scolded him knowingly, making the large boy pale in fear and feel a bit creped out by her words.

"Let's catch up to Prince Phillip before he hurts himself trying to open those doors." She suggested making her way to a struggling Lance.

"What was that about?" Pidge asked, curious, making Hunk stiffen at the question. "Ah, probably nothing to worry about, let's go get those really big doors open." Hunk raced after her, leave the other three confused before the blue Lion let out a loud roar, startling them all as the large doors to the castle slowly started opening, letting them inside the dark castle.

"It's a good thing you glow in the dark." Lance mussed as the glow Devine admitted, lighting up the castle's massive foyer, letting them see every detail of the ancient Altean castel.

"HELLO!" Hunk shouted out into the castle, creating an eco threw out the empty, dark halls. The humans turned to glare at him, for alerting whatever could have been in the castle, but only air was disturbed. "Don't worry, the only in things in this castle are us and those still in the status pods." Devine assured them but tensed as a triangle section of the floor beneath them glowed under their feet.

**_-Hold for Identity scan.-_ **

_'Quiznack.'_ Devine cursed as they were all scanned by the computer, she held her breath and held very still as her body was scanned, her blood running cold as it ended… and nothing really happened besides the lights of the castle switched on and directed them to the status pods... where Princess Allura and Coran still slept. "This way, but be careful. Some security proto call may have been activated." Devine lead them down the hall, looking for any signs that she was going to be attacked, relaxing a tad as they came to the status chamber.

"What is this place?" Lance asked as he entered after Devine who made a b-line for the control panel in the room. It lit up at her touch, a holographic screen displaying unfamiliar characters to her as she took a moment to try and understand the Altean characters. "It looks like a control room, but it seems a little dark." Pidge mentioned as the rest of them entered, Devine trying several buttons before two capsules rose up from the floor, startling the future Paladins.

"What are those? Are those people inside? Are they dead!?" Hunk panicked as he could make out the Altean's forms frozen inside the pods. "No just asleep, but it's time to wake the princess and her aid." Devine smiled as she pressed another button to defrost the princess, walking over to her pod as it opened.

"Father!" She gasped desperately, reaching out to the late king as a much delayed reflex, falling forward out of her pod. "Whoa there princess. Take it easy there. You've been in there a long time." Devine caught the princess before she could hit the floor, her body tense before looking at the face of an unfamiliar looking Altean. "Who are you? Where are we?" she asked, looking a bit scared and reasonably confused as Devine helped her get steady. "I am called Devine, and we are in the Castel of Lions. There is no need to be scared." She tried to assure the princess, slowly getting rid of her fear with a soft smile.

"Hello~ Princess, I'm Lance." Lance came from behind Shiro, trying to be swave as he hit on the princess who just stared at him with wide eyes.

"Your ears." She mentioned and Lance looked to the side in confusion.

"Yeah?"

"Their hideous! What's wrong with them!?" the princess yelled as she turned away from him in disgust. Devine bit her lip trying to suppress her mirth at the exchange and Lance's horrified reaction. "Nothing! They heard exactly what you said about them!" He shot back but was too slow as the princess grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back; bringing the lanky boy to his knees. "Who are you!? Where is King Alfor!? Why are you in my castle!?" the princess demanded from Lance who was in pain from the very well done arm lock she was using on him.

As amusing as it was, Devine knew she had to get the princess off the new blue paladin.

"Actually princess, it was the blue lion that brought them here, and granted us entrance into the castle." She explained calmly over Lance's whimpering, the princess looked at her with wide eyes, seeming to trust her words. "How do you have the blue lion? Where is its Paladin? What are all of you doing here?" she asked, looking at the other humans in the room, Devine could feel her panic rise as something came to her mind as she let go of Lance's arm.

"How long has it been?" Allura asked, looking shaken as she made her way to the control panel. "How about you tell us who you are? Maybe we can help." Shiro suggested helpfully as Hunk was still hiding behind him. "Right, how rude of me. I am Princess Allurra of planet Altea. Now, i've got to know how long we've been asleep." The princess mentioned, a little calmer as she operated the control panel with Pidge watching with curiosity and amazement at the holographic screens.

Devine gently bit her lip before speaking up to deliver the bad news to Allura.

"Princess, you've been asleep long enough for the grand stories of Voltron to become mere myths in the minds of the known universe." The princess looked at her with disbelieving eyes. "What? No! That simply cannot be true." She denied as she franticly looked for evidence on the control panel.

"Enemy Combatants!" Devine heard Coran yell as he fell out of his pod, everyone except the princess looking at him. "Quiznak! You're lucky I have a case of the old Sleep Chamber Knees. Otherwise, I'd grab your head like this, wrap you up like so, and... one, two, three, sleepy time!" The older male Altean, Coran boasted, demonstrating something that looked like a sleeper hold.

"Oh Yeah? Well, before you did that, I'd..." Lance made some weird motion that tried to imitate a marshal art move of some kind. "Like that."

"Really? How could you do that when I've already come at you with this? Ha, ha, ha, hey!" Coran made some over the top marshal arts looking moves, the whole scene made Devine cringe at all the errors they made in their movements and stance. "These guys are really good." Hunk admired his friend and the Altean putting on a show, but Devine ran her hand down her face in annoyance. "Not to anyone that knows actual Marshal arts forms." She spoke up, getting Corans attention.

"A hostage! You fiends!" the goofy Altean quickly put himself between Devine and the Paladins. "Not to worry little one, Uncle Coran will protect you!" he declared, confident as she saw the humans start to look scared, but not of him. As behind him, Devine extruded smokey gray sparks from her body as her ember eyes narrowed angrily at the Altean's back. She disliked anyone, besides her masters, calling her Little one.

"I am... NOT! A CHILD!"

She roared out angrily as she japed her pointer and middle finger into Coran's spine, unleashing a non lethal dose of the smokey gray sparks into his body.

"AH! Surprise attack from the rear!" he yelled as he felt the sparks spark his hair and mustache before her fell forward onto the floor, twitching from the shock. The paladins looked down at Coran before looking up at Devive with wide disbelieving eyes. "Anyone else still think I'm a child?" she asked, holding up her hand to create more sparks as she gave them a sharp tooth devilish grin. They no longer thought she was a child, and knew she could be rather scary when angry.

"Dude, is he dead?" Lance asked as he poked Coran, but the Altean didn't seem to respond. "He's still alive. I just gave him enough of a shock to hurt a little." She explained but nudged the Altean with her foot to find a response of some kind.

'Quiznack! Did I KILL Coran!?' she thought worriedly before the princess spoke. "This can't be." She sounded in distress, and that prompted Coran to stop playing dead. "What is it Allura?" he asked, looking at the princess worriedly. "We've been asleep for 10,000 years!" The princess distress was dominating the room, Devine bit her lip hard enough to bleed as the feeling of despair, loss, panic and anxiety over came her. The princess and Coran being the main sources almost made her fall to her knees under it all.

"Planet Altea... and all the planets in our solar system... have been destroyed." Allura delivered the crushing news to the older Altean, Devine knew what came next but was not prepared for how strong the emotion would be.

"Coran.. father is gone." The princess broke the news, and their emotions floored Devine in the process. The pressure knocking the air right out of her lungs as she lay on the floor, the panic from the five paladins didn't even register it was so strong.

"Hey are you okay?" Hunk asked first, hesitantly grabbing her gently to help her sit up.

"Why did you suddenly fall over?" Pidge asked, looking confused and concerned. Lance and Keith hovered close as did Shiro who seemed to be the only calm one but still very concerned about her. "Y-yeah, I'm just a little... receptive, to strong emotions." She told them, choking on some air before feeling something like joy and excitement helping her breath a little easier.

"You're an Altean! and an Empath! That's very rare ability for Altean, the last one was actually Allura's mother!" Coran praised looking impressed, but the princess was only soothed from her underlying pain for a moment. "Yes, it's good to know some of our people survived." Allura gave a sad smile, and Devine didn't have the heart to tell her the truth. She blinked in confusion as an orange handkerchief was suddenly in her face. "Here, you got a spot of blood right there." Coran offered pointing to the corner of his slightly frizzed mustache. Devine was touched by the gesture but it was quickly smothered by the thought of him only being nice because they thought she was Altean. Regardless she took the offering and wiped the odd dark purple blood from her lip.

"But he's not-OW!" Keith hopped on one foot as the other had been pounded by Devine's fist suddenly. "Thank you, but I'm afraid I'm only part Altean. You would be hard pressed to find someone that is even 1/64 Altean with the destruction of Altea scattering them all." She told them, giving them a reasonable thought of hope, and she wasn't lying about being part Altean after all. "It's alright. The destruction of our civilization is all because of Zarkon." Allura hissed the named angrily making Devine gag at the strength. "Sorry." Allura's emotion quickly went to worry, but the anger was still under it as Devine gasped for air.

"Zarkon?" Shiro questioned, slight distress was on his face as he seemed to remember something. "The King of the Galra, a vile creature and Enemy to all free people." Allura told them as she looked worriedly at a passed out Devine, the emotions having been too much for her. "Uh? Guys I don't think he's breathing." Pidge voiced as he noticed Devine go slack in Hunk's hold, looking for a pulse on her wrist.

"He's alive, I can feel a pulse." Pidge announced, curious about their liaison.

**_~Voltron~_ **

Devine cringed as she rolled off her back and onto her side with a pained moan, gaining the attention of the Paladins.

"She's up!" someone cried out but Devine cringed as despair was still strong in the Alteans, the emotions feeling like a hangover. "Not so loud please." She pleaded, slowly sitting up and rubbing her head at the pain before cracking and eye open to see the Paladins looking relived. "Are you all right? You just passed out." Shiro asked, his worry touching as she used her feelings of joy help to wash away the despair. "Y-yeah, just wasn't too prepared for so much strong, negative emotions all at once." She assured them, taking slow, deep breaths.

"Well you can take my breath away anytime~." Devine blinked as she looked at Lance who was giving her a sly smile... it almost looked like he was flirting with her. "What?" she blurted out but Lance only smirked. "No need to be shy, there is plenty of Lance to love and admire~." He boasted, as he gave her a supposed to be seductive look but it just creped her out more as she scooted away from him.

"Okay, why is he acting so weird?" she asked before realizing her jacket was completely open, exposing her rather impressive assets, covered by a thin, gray tank top. "WHO UNZIPPED MY JACKET!" she shouted with a heavy blush, quickly zipping it back up and crossing her arms over her chest as the male paladins all looked away, looking guilty.

"It was Shiro." Pidge rated the older paladin out. "He wanted to make sure you could breath but..."

"We thought you were a guy this whole time, but I thought you were beautiful from the moment I laid eyes on you." Lance commented, making Devine shiver. "Please stop, it's getting a little creepy." She asked him, making the others sniffle a laugh at the blue paladin's pout; she could feel his slight hurt that quickly pierced her heart. "Not that you're bad looking, but I don't think you're over 18 just yet." She mentioned as it seemed to pacify him. "Thank you." Lance smirked at Keith, looking smug about something as the red paladin looked unimpressed.

"Come to think of it, I never asked for your names in all the excitement." Devine mentioned, looking at them with curious eyes, she knew their names but it would be creepy and hard to explain how she knew them.

"Oh right, well I'm Lance, the handsome one." Lance introduced himself with a smirk, making Devine bite her lip to suppress a snort, the handsome one for her was defiantly Shiro. "I'm Pidge, and the big guy is Hunk." Pidge smiled at her, and pointed her thumb at Hunk who was near her bag, suspiciously hiding something from her. "Keith." The red paladin responded, but seemed more interested in her sword that he held by the sheath. "And you can call me Shiro, Miss Devine." Shiro gave her a handsome smile that soothed her brain with clam and her own passion for the once fictional character made the pain go away.

"I'm Coran!" The older Altean popped into their group with a smile as he had a tray holding a two bowls, one with goop and a spoon as the other had something that looked like sliver candy wrappers. He offered a handful to the empath who took them in her hand in confusion. "Eat one of these; it should help will the emotional overload. They where Queen Amora's favorite." He mentioned her head throbbed in pain, she quickly unwrapped the blood red colored disk before popping it into her mouth. Devine's eyes went wide at the very familiar taste that washed over her tongue.

'Is this? Wine?' She questioned as Coran went up to Allura worriedly with the other bowl. "Princess, you must eat. It's been 10,000 years." He pleaded but the princess was still at the control panel, trying to catch up on the current status of the universe, whatever she was finding was not good.

"I'm not hungry." Allura said, not looking away from the numerous screens she pulled up."Man, 10,000 years... that's like 1,000 plus 10." Lance voiced in slight amazement, but Keith was not. "That's times ten." He corrected as Lance glared at him.

"Whatever drop out." Lance snubbed the red paladin as his grip on her sword tightened.

"Save the fighting for Zarkon you two. Keith hand me my sword please." Devine scolded, getting off the floor to walk over to Hunk and Keith, getting her sword from the red paladin before being handed her bag by Hunk who was interested in the goo Allura had rejected. "Since the princess is not gonna eat this, and if it's safe for human concussion..." Hunk trailed off as he looked at Devine for an answer.

"I'm surprised your still hungry. You threw up like five times and had three of those pastries." Pidge ratted out Hunk who gave an apologetic smile to Devine as she sighed; already figuring he would eat the last one. "It's edible, but lacks a lot of taste." She warned him but the big guy ate it anyway, finding out for himself how tasteless Altean goo was, especially after 10,000 years.

"I can't believe your civilization created such advanced technology ten thousand years ago." Shiro admitted, looking around in admiration. "It must have been an incredible place."

"Yes, it was... but now that's gone and who knows where the remaining Alteans could be." Coran responded and looked at Devine as did the princess with looks of some hope. "Sorry. I wouldn't know too much about that." she admitted, inwardly hoping there really had been more Altean survivors. "What about your parents? Surely one of them has a connection to another Altean or two." Allura asked, reaching for something as Devine bit her lip nervously, looking away. "My parents... my family, are dead, princess." She admitted hesitantly as she clenched her fists inside her jacket, the phantom feeling of a knife in her hand and hot blood running over her skin and clothes came to mind, before it was banished as soon as it came.

Devine filched as she felt two pairs of arms wrap around her, Coran and Allura hugging her to give her comfort like they need, only to make her uncomfortable. Devine could feel their emotions more clearly with the close contact, tears forming in her eyes as she pulled her hands out of the hug sandwich, and placed them on both Altean's backs... letting out a soothing white mist from her skin and letting it flow into their bodies.

"They died many years ago, I've had a lot of time to grieve, and not all of Altea was lost." She looked at the princess, gently brushing away a tear form her pink markings, making them glow slightly. Allura's teal eyes widen as she saw a happy memory from when she was a child, letting out a small gasp.

"You didn't go into the sleep chamber alone princess." Devine mentioned as there was a small squeak from one of the pods. Allura quickly approached the pod, kneeling down to let four small mice jump into her hands and squeak their greetings happily.

"Yes, it seems there is still hope in the universe." The princess smiled as she stood up with the mice, making her a bit happier.

"Thank you, for making Allura smile." Coran thanked Devine gratefully before the alarms blared, a spike in panic filled the room that turned from a calming blue to an alert red. The older Altean looked at the screen with worry.

"A Galra battleship has locked on to our location!" He declared as nearly everyone stood around the computer. "How did they find us so quickly?" Allura asked Coran, but the humans and Devine had an idea how. "I'm not sure, but I bet it's all Keith's fault." Lance deflected, crossing his arms in defense.

"Say whatever you've got to say to make yourself feel better." Keith glared at Lance from the corner of his eye before turning towards the blue paladin with enmity. "After getting all of us stuck on the other side of a wormhole!" Keith blamed him as Lance glared back at his fellow paladin. "I'll stick you in a wormhole!" Lance shot back as both took steps towards each other, ready to fight each other.

"Lance! Keith! Now is not the time to argue over who's at fault." She scolds them as Shiro got between them, pushing them apart. "Miss Devine's right, cadets. It's time for all of us to work as a team." Shiro scolded them, both boys feeling shame under the older Paladin's disapproval.

"How long before they arrive?" Shiro asked Coran who was looking at his fingers, counting something."At their current speed? Well I say, carry the two..." he muttered working out his math. "A scientific calculation would be a lot more appreciated here, Coran." Devine reasoned, knowing he was just making up inaccurate numbers.

"Oh! Right, let me see here. They will arrive in precisely..." Coran typed on the console and gasped in horror.

"Two Vargas!" he shouted, confusing the humans, but Devine understood how long they actually had.

"It's gonna be real close, but we only need to find the Yellow and Green lions." Devine muttered to herself as she got odd looks from the Alteans. "How do know that? And what of the red lion? Do you know where it is?" Allura asked, looking impressed and worried about someone else knowing where the lions where.

Devine stiffened as all eyes were on her, biting her lip nervously.

"Well... Sapphire, the Blue lion, brought them here." She mentioned to the Paladins. "The stories of old say the Black lion, was sealed away in this castle." She looked down at her feet, hesitating on talking about the red lion.

"Ruby, the red lion... is on that Galra battleship." she added, looking away shamefully.

"WHAT!" Coran and Allura shouted in alarm, panic blasting from the two Alteans, nearly knocking Devine over. "How did they get their evil claws on Ruby!?" Coran asked using the name Devine gave the lion, looking at the empath for the answer.

"Is this really important right now? We need to find the Yellow and Green lions still. I only know from the stories that yellow is practically buried under ground, and green is in some thick jungle area." She tried to deflect but Keith just had to be curious.

"How did they get the Red lion?" he asked her, noticing how she bit her lip when she was not staying something, like she was doing now. "It doesn't matter, we have very little time to locate, find, and bring back the other two lions. Then we can just take back the red lion and form Voltron. Together we will destroy the Galra Empire!" the princess said confidently,

"Princess, how are we gonna find the last two Lions?" Shiro asked, Allura who gave off confidence and certainty with a smile.


	2. A Bight Future, with No Regrets

~Chapter 2, A Bight Future, with No Regrets~

They were all lead to the main deck of the castle, as Princess Allura stood on a raised platform in the middle of the large room under soft teal light coming from the large crystal handing overhead, lighting up the room along with Devine's excited white glow as she eagerly took in the site of the room. Allura closed her eyes to concentrate on the missing lions, everyone watching with bated breath while watching her reach out to the lions.

"King Alfor connected the lions to Allura's life force, so she is key to locating the other lions." Coran explained with pride. Devine however, looked a little nervous about the information that sparked her curiosity. 'Is that why he locked her away? So the lions could return? Or was it so she could live?' She questioned the ancient king's motives, connecting his daughter to the robotic lions of Voltron seemed a little odd... or desperate. 'And when did it happen? Before or after Zarkon turned?' she wondered, a little concerned for the princess in regards to the Black Lion.

Allura opened her eyes suddenly as the room was filled with a 3D map of the universe, stars, planets, and galaxies scattered threw out the room creating a beautifully breathtaking sight. "So cool~." Devine grinned as she looked at all the different planets, a few she knew they would travel to, some she had trained on, and many more she had never seen before.

"There's Puiga, so Olkarion should be over here. Oh! Naxzela looks so cute like this~! and Taujeer!" Devine moved through the map of the stars and planets freely. "Now where is Daibazaal?" she questioned softly to herself, wondering around the star map as the others just stood in aw. "These look like coordinates." Pidge noticed while observing some of the planets passing by as the image of Arus moved past the green paladin, the images of Sapphire and the Black lion along with it. "And it looks like Miss Devine was right. Sapphire and the Black lion are in the same location." The future green paladin pointed out.

"Just look at your primitive synapses firing away in that little brain cage of yours." Coran mussed with his arms crossed over his chest as he dotted on Pidge. "You're very observant. The Black Lion is indeed inside the castle." Allura complemented Pidge, and amused by Devine's excited glow as she moved from planet to planet, looking for a certain one. "Yes. King Alfor had the Black lion locked away in the castle in order to keep it out of Zarkon's hands." Coran explained, confidently as he opened his mouth to explain more only to have Devine beat him to it. "And as a security measure, it can only be freed when the other four lions are present, and willingly unlock the doors to her hanger." She recited without thinking of the consequences.

"Willingly? Aren't they just giant robot cats" Keith questioned, confused as Devine realized her slip.

"Nope. They all have minds and wills of their own, especially Ruby." She responded calmly before turning to the paladins, coming down from her excitement. "Their bodies maybe robotic, but they are the products of the greatest minds of Altea form over 10,000 years ago. Not to mention they are made from a reality bending comet that crashed into-." Devine was explaining before she noticed their surprised and amazed looks as they looked up at her. "Ah? Did I say too much?" she asked shyly before looking slightly up at the remains of a very familiar planet. "Daibazaal! I didn't think it would be this far away. It's practically on... the edge of ... oh!" Devive blushed as she realized she was floating several feet in the air, an arms length away from the high ceiling.

"YOU CAN FLY!" The paladins all shouted in amazement and surprise as she gave a sheepish grin, slowly lowering herself to the floor. "More like levitating actually. It's a big help in zero gravity, especially if you don't have any thrusters." She explained as Lance approached her. "Where did you learn to do that?" Lance asked an eager grin on his face. "I trained under several masters, and one of them taught me how. I'm... not sure if I can teach it to other's though." She admitted disappointing Lance and from what she could tell, Keith had been eager to learn it as well.

"Miss Devine is right. The lions do have to choose their pilot to create a mystical bound that cannot be made threw force." Allura picked up, smiling as she grew more hopeful. "The quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in the lion and together they form a bond far greater than anything science can ever explain."Allura grabbed the image of the Black lion, looking at it sadly.

"The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times. Someone whose men will follow without hesitation." She sent the image of the Black Lion towards the older paladin. "That is why, Shiro. You will pilot the Black Lion." Shiro seemed to stand straighter with pride, looking all the more handsome. Devine bit her lip as she blushed, just watching the events unfold as Allura grabbed the Green lion.

"The Green Lion is inquisitive and needs a pilot with intellect and daring." She sent the green lion over to the smallest Paladin. "Pidge, you will pilot the Green Lion." Pidge looked at the image with child like wonder; Devine could not help but feel happy for the young paladin.

"The Blue Lion-"

"Hold up, let me guess. Takes the most handsome slash best pilot of the bunch?" " Lance cut off Allura as she grabbed the blue lion. He smirked proudly, trying to impress the princess once again, but Allura was not amused by his interruption. "Well... Blaytz, was pretty handsome in his own way, so he's not completely wrong." Devine commented off handedly, earning shocked looks from both Alteans.

"You know about the pervious paladins!?" Coran questioned her, a slight edge to his voice, as Devine flinched. "O-only a few off the top my head. As for Sapphire..." Devine looked at Lance with a soft smile. "Sapphire is friendly, stubborn and loyal; she will only allow someone who has unwavering loyalty to those they care about to pilot her." Devine mentioned as she nudged the blue lion to a stunned and blushing Lance.

"I think Miss Devine broke Lance with that one." Pidge mussed as the others chuckled at the blue Paladian's speechlessness.

"The Yellow Lion is caring and kind. Its pilot is one who puts the needs of others above his own." Allura took hold of the yellow lion, looking at it fondly. "His heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and help hold them all together." She sent the Yellow Lion towards Hunk who pointed at himself in confusion, silently asking if he was the pilot of the Yellow Lion. "Yeah big guy, you're a leg." Devine chuckled as she informed Hunk, but she stiffened as the princess took hold of the red lion, holding it in her hands for bit longer in fondness.

"The Red Lion is temperamental, and the most difficult lion to pilot. It's faster and more agile than the others, but it is also more unstable. Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more on their instincts rather than mere skill alone." Allura let the red lion float away from her, Devine shutting her eyes in fear as the princess did not speak for a moment. Missing how the red lion's image swung slightly between her and the last Paladin for a moment before going to the antsy teen.

"Keith, you will pilot the Red Lion."

Devine opened her eyes and was relieved to see it had gone to Keith, who looked at the lion with pride as he smirked confidently. "What? This guy?" Lance asked in disbelief, making Keith's smirk disappear, as he glared at Lance who glared right back at him. "Once all the lions are united, you will all form Voltron. The most powerful warrior ever known, The Defender of the Universe." Allura explained, preventing the two from fighting as the planets disappeared, leaving only the lions to float in a V formation before their images changed into the final form of Voltron towering over them.

"Cool~."

"Awesome."

"Whoa."

"Wow."

They all looked at the image of Voltron in admiration before it disappeared.

"Wait. Okay, so we're going to be out there and flying lions. Got that part." Hunk spoke up, still looking concerned and unsure of the whole event. "How do lions turn into legs? Is this going to be a long trip? Because I have to pee. Do you people pee?" Hunk asked as he raised his hand like he was waiting to be called on by a teacher. "Sapphire and Yellow fold and attach to the hind legs of the Black lion. Taking down an evil ruler and his massive empire tend to take a while, so going now is a good idea. Also Alteans have a very human like waste management system, so any adjustments should be minimal." Devine chuckled as she answered Hunk's questions with ease.

The other's just looked at her in stunned silence before Shiro took charge.

"Alright then, we don't have much time to spare so Pidge and I will go after the Green lion. Lance, you take Hunk and get the Yellow Lion." Shiro looked at the other two boys before he looked at Keith.

"Keith, you stay here until we get back. I don't want you going into that battle ship alone." Shiro gave a stern order to the younger male who opened his mouth to protest, before Devine placed a hand on Keith arm. "Don't worry, I'll keep him out of trouble while you're gone." She assured him with a smile and small blush. The way Shiro took command only added to his attractiveness, along with the grateful smile he was giving her, but Keith eyed her wearily. "In the meantime, I'll get the castle's defenses ready. They'll be sorely needed to hold off that battleship long enough to get the Red lion and from Voltron." Allura added helpfully, as Coran piped up as well. "I'll ready a pod and load in the coordinates so that you can reach the Green Lion" he spoke to Shiro and Pidge who was looking a little unsure.

"Alright, let's head out." Shiro nodded and was heading out of the main deck with Pidge and Coran, Lance and Hunk following behind shortly.

Devine was quietly recalling how their missions went, and hoping nothing would change. Suppressed her fear as she recalled the calming river ride to the Green Lion and then the dangerous skirmish for the Yellow Lion, feeling guilty for being partly responsible for the Yellow Lion's discovery after finding Ruby. Allura was running a systems check from the dais, leaving Keith free to integrate their liaison as he rounded on her.

"How do you know the red lion is on that battleship?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he glared down at her. Keith noticed her tensing up, biting her lip and being quite for a bit too long. "You had something to do with it, didn't you?" he guessed, as Devine seemed to get more nervous. "You called the other lions by color, but the blue and red lions are the only ones you gave a weird name too."

'Quiznack! He noticed that?' she cursed as Keith placed a hand on her shoulder and forced her to look at him. She could clearly feel his distrust and anger as he held her firmly in place.

"Y-yeah, I went looking for the lion's at some point, but… so where four Galra commanders." She admitted not looking him in the eye, Keith could feel her shaking a little and the air around them seemed to warm up quickly. "One went down just trying to get to Ruby. Then again active volcanoes are a dangerous force of nature, let alone a whole planet full of them, spitting giant fire balls at odd internals made navigation almost impossible." She admitted, remembering the unsanctioned mission she had done with three willing Blade of Marmora members to find the lions herself, finding Ruby a bit little too easily before being found by a certain Galra commander.

Keith's eyes wavered slightly as he suddenly saw strange images in his mind. Three figures, dressed in ominous looking suits, then four battleships, one taking a hit form a giant fire ball that was launched from one of the many pools of lava on a fiery planet. Keith let go of Devine as the heat was getting more unusual, backing away from her."How did they get it then?" he asked, crossing his arms again, a strange tingle in his fingers. Devine sighed as she looked him in the eyes. "I fell form our ship after disarming one of their commanders. Ruby saved me before I could become extra crispy." closing her eyes as she remembered the unfiltered fear and glee she felt.

A beloved Blade member being captured by Sendak, she just reacted by slicing off his still flesh and blood left arm, and then chucking her body at him to give her comrades a chance to escape. Devine had long resigned herself to death, plummeting into a pit of lava was not gonna be quick or painless, yet after a few ticks of falling the red lion came to her rescue, springing out of the lava to scoop her into it's cockpit.

"We took out two ships before I blacked out. After that... they must have picked us up. I escaped with some help but we had to leave Ruby behind or risk getting caught again." She mentioned, looking away in shame as she bit her lip, not sure about sharing any additional information. "That's why it wavered between us." Keith mentioned as Devine cringed at the fact. "Probably, but you're the one who's really worthy of piloting her Keith." she told him, grabbing his hands in between her own, a white mist flowing from her skin into his. Keith's eyes widen as he felt something strange enter him as soon as she touched his bare skin, and smiled encouragingly at him.

"You just need to be a little more open and have a bit more patients to focus clearly." Devine felt Keith's surprise as she rubbed her thumbs over the back of his hands gently. "You will be a great pilot, and someday... a great leader as well." She beamed but quickly felt Keith's discomfort before he took his hands away from her. "I'm... going to the bathroom." He said quickly and made his way out of the main deck. Devine took a deep breath and slowly let it out, having taking too many gambles on the outcome of many events yet to come, except for maybe one.

"You know who the pervious Black paladin was... don't you?" Allura asked as the computer slowly ran the tests on the monitor in front of her. The princess didn't need to turn around for Devine to know she was uneasy. "Yes, but I don't want that kind of information to plague their minds any more then you do. It could make forming Voltron, and their trust in Shiro, far more difficult than it needs to be." Devine mentioned with a frown, thinking of Shiro's eventual battle with Zarkon over control of the black lion.

"Do you think the Black Lion will except him?" Allua asked worriedly, and empath didn't blame her. "I'm sure she will. Where is she anyway?" she asked the princess, curious and eager to meet the Lion of the Sky. There were some strange stories about the Black lion attacking certain planets long ago, but she could never find reliable information since it was so long ago.

"Take the elevator down to the docking bay, it will be the only one locked." The princess told her before going back to the system check. "Good luck." The princess whispered as Devine made her way to meet the black lion.

~Voltron~

Devine panicked a little as she could no longer feel the other paladins, but quickly assured herself as the elevator slowly descended to the docking bays. "They just entered the wormholes; they'll be back in with the Sapphire, Yellow and Green in time." She paced a hand over her heart that was starting to race with nerves. "They will make it." She closed her eyes softly as the elevator stopped and the door opened to the dark docking bays.

"Here we go." she gulped, forcing herself to take several steps into the dark abyss, the light from the elevator helping a little before the doors closed leaving her completely in the dark. She let out a small whimper at being almost completely blind, feeling no other life forms besides herself in the large, empty feeling hanger. Unnerved she tried thinking of Shiro, how warm and strong his quintessence felt when she reached out to him, his smile, his strength, his compassion, and his authority where all tucked into a very handsome package.

Devine shivered as she lit up the room with her soft while glow, biting her entire bottom lip. Blushing as she thought about his lips, running her hands under his shirt or down his-

'WHO GOES THERE!'

Devine yelped as she was knocked to the floor, a sudden strong force having pushed her. "S-shiro!?" she questioned, having strangely heard the Paladin's voice... at least in her mind as she felt something strange reaching out to her.

'I am not that flesh bag you find so attractive.' A voice said with Shiro's voice, sounding as if it was mocking her and disgusted with Shiro. "Who are you then? Come out right now!" Devine called out, hand on her sword's hilt in case of attack, but reaching out she couldn't find anyone else in the hanger, nor feel anything beyond the large imposing doors.

'I am The Black Lion. Little Cub~.' Shiro's voice purred rather sinisterly in her brain, the tone making her blush a bright pink and swallow nervously. She reached out beyond the doors to feel the remains of Zarkon's corrupted quintessence, still mirrored inside the Black lion. Devine could not help but tremble at the feeling of the abyss like quintessence the large mechanical lion had, taking a few steps back to ease the ghostly pressure in her chest.

'Leaving so soon~? I thought you wanted to meet me.' the black lion cooed in Shiro's voice, making her blush and the lion purr in amusement. "S-stop using Shiro's voice! It's creepy!" she yelled at it, but it seemed to only amuse the lion more.

'I'm not using anyone's voice, Cub. It is all your own doing. Dictating just who I sound like~.'The lion intentionally sounded seductive and out of breath, purring with amusement. 'It's not my fault the Alpha has not clamed you properly. No matter how much you wish it~.' it taunted almost playfully, but it felt far more threating to the young woman.

"Okay, you stop it right there!" Devine yelled pointing a finger at the Lion's direction. "I came here to give you a new name and make nice. Not have you bully and mock me about my love life!" she stomped her foot angrily, letting out a charge of smokey gray lighting.

The lion chuckled lowly in amusement.

'I am the Black Lion, and my name is Na-'

"NO! That's not cute at all!" Devine yelled angry, interrupting the lion mid sentience, much to it's annoyance as it growled lowly in displeasure.

'What?'

"You're getting a cute new name and Paladin. Zarkon cannot, and will not pilot you anymore. So you better play nice with Shiro." She scolded the lion who was taken aback by her daring declaration, Devine taking a moment to go over the names she could give the Black Lion.

'I would rather play with you. You're a very interesting little thing~.'

Devine fought back a blush as it sounded like the lion was flirting with her for a moment. "Sorry, but I'm no Paladin. So I was thinking your new name should be, Obsidian!" she decaled as the Lion thought over the name, making her smirk. "Or, Obie! For short! It's just adorable." She mused as the Lion felt insulted and disgruntled at the new name.

'I will not be called anything so ridiculous!' Obsidian growled and mentally snapped at her but Devine only smiled, happy with the reaction as she turned to leave.

'Where are you going?'

"Going to meet the green lion. I'm sure she will be a lot friendlier and appreciate a new name." Devine entered the elevator but just before it closed, Obsidian spoke up again.

'You'll be back, Little Cub...'

It said with a low rumble that shook her entire body, Devine look deep breaths as she allowed for her tears to fall from her eyes and over her cheeks. "I messed up, so much didn't I?" She whispered into the empty space as she slid to the floor in exhaustion, her eyes where closing from exhaustion before the doors opened again.

"Miss Devine? Are you alright?" Coran asked worriedly and she looked up a tad startled. "Oh! Coran. Yeah I'm fine, just a little tired." She sighed as the Altean entered the elevator. "How about I show you to your room so you can get some rest before the big battle?" he suggested once the elevator started moving again. "Thanks, but I think I'll just set my stuff down. Does the castle have anything like a library or a sewing room? Maybe just an empty room for meditation?" She asked tiredly, looking at the dumbfound look on his face.

"Is there something wrong?" Devine asked in worry, but the mustached man shook his head and chuckled.

"No, no. Nothing's wrong. It's just that Queen Amroa insisted on having physical books and scrolls in the castle, she always said computer screens were just too cold to really enjoy any story. As for the Sewing and Mediation rooms..." he was saying as the elevator stopped.

"They're right this way, I'll show you."Coran eagerly walked down the hall, Devine getting up to follow slowly. "These will be the rooms for the Paladins, further down the hall are Allura's chambers, my room is right next to her's, and right across from her will be your suite Milady~." Coran pointed out as they walked further down the hall, Devine mentally counted the number of doors. Passing the door to her suite for now, Coran pointed to two doors right across from each other. "The door to my left is Queen Amroa's sewing room, and to my right is the meditation room." Coran mentioned as he walked up to the doors, inputting some code in each of the panels beside them before opening the door on the right.

"Now you have access to these rooms as well, Miss Devine. Would you like to see the mediation room?" he asked looking excited as Devine smiled softly and nodded, following him inside the dark room. At first she was confused, a little worried as the door shut behind them... and she could no longer feel Allura. "C-coran?" she called out worriedly as the room was lit up to look like a savanna, with blue skies dotted with fluffy white clouds, the golden ankle high grass and among the grassy floor were an entire pride of stuffed lions in every color on the spectrum and in a range of different sizes.

"Ta-da! What do ya think?" he asked but noticed the panicked look she had on her face.

"Oh! You can't feel Allura can you? Not to worry, this room was made as a sanctuary for the Queen to rest her nerves after large, emotional events. So you can't feel a thing that isn't already in here." He motioned all around him and pet the head of a giant white lion with faded gray stripes. "and you have cuddly stuffed Lions and blankets everywhere to take a little cat nap. You can even change the scenery if you like."

Just as he said that, the savanna became a meadow at night, stars twinkling in the clear sky as a large white and blue comment was flying past. Devine's eyes widen as she saw the very familiar comet in the sky. "Hm, that's new." Coran mentioned off handedly but turned to Devine who was still looking at the comet.

'Haley's Comet?' she questioned before looking at Coran.

"T-thank you, I wouldn't want to intrude on anything personal." She said nervously but Coran shook his head. "Not to worry, Queen Amora loved to help others. This would make her happy... something she made helping another like her." Coran then chuckled. "Look the Lion's noses even squeak." He added happily, pressed the nose of the white lion, but instead of a cute little squeak like expected, there was a mighty lion's roar that resonated threw out the room.

"Well... guess not all of them squeak then." Coran breath out, having been startled by the unexpected noise and Devine started openly laughing as she griped her sides, amused by Coran's very genuine surprise. "I'll leave you to your own then. There's still a lot to do, and if you ever need me, just call." He told her as he left the room with a smile, happy he made the sorrowful girl laugh.

Devine tried to calm down as Coran left, a cold feeling washing over her as she didn't feel anyone once door closed. She could only feel her own emotions of panic, anxiety, worthlessness, and nothingness as her heart started racing. Quickly she unwrapped another candy, the taste of aged grapes, with hints of vanilla, caramel and something slightly exotic hit her taste buds, dulling her senses a bit but not enough. Devine shook as she opened her bag to retrieve a sliver flask, popping off the top to chug down the liquid inside, dulling her senses even further.

"Ah~, that's better." She sighed, feeling her body warm up from the rather strong Alcohol she had just consumed, making her a tad sleepy. She sat down next to the striped lion, reclining her back onto its soft, stuffed body letting her eyes slowly shut as the light form the projected comet gave a soft calming light.

"I'll just rest... for a few ticks..." she drifted off into a clam, dark abyss.

~Voltron~

Jolting awake suddenly Devine shot up from her place resting ageists the plush white lion, a teal blanket draped over her body. "How long have I been asleep!?" she asked, panic ran threw her body as she reached for her bag, noticing it and her sword where gone, making her blood run cold. Throwing off the blanket carelessly she ran from the room, the door opened letting her out to feel the positive emotions from Allura, Coran, Shiro and...

"Katie!" Devine shouted the green paladin's real name before running down the hall to the elevator, pausing at her door. "Wait... do I smell?" she asked, breathing on her hand and sniffing it to smell the strong alcoholic scent. "Yeah, definitely got to wash my mouth out." She entered the generously large room, dominated by white and light purple with sliver and light blue accents, on the large bed was her bag and sword.

Quickly going through it, she pulled out her normalish space suit before undressing and slipping it on.

A consisted of a tight black suit clung to her curves like a second skin up to her neck with dark purple running up the sides up to the custom chest piece that compressed and lifted her womanly assess, a 2 inch white gem glowed in the middle of her chest between two white lines along her collar bone. Black knee high boots with an inch and a half high heels with white bottoms, both containing a small emergency blades in the toes, some gauntlet like gloves that covered her forearm with three white stripes around her wrists and glowing white gems at the back of her hands.

Devine then pulled on her utility belt, special pockets containing useful items, before adding her Katana to her left hip. Going threw her bag again she pulled out a small bottle of alien mouth wash, quickly heading to the on suite connected to her new room, emptying the bottle into her mouth to wash out the smell of alcohol, gargling before spitting it out into the white marble like sink.

Not bothering to take in the site of the private bathroom, she quickly ran out of the room, only to double back and look threw her bag again. Pulling out a dark purple, quarter sleeved jacket that slipped over her chest plate, helping to hide her feminine curves, but exposed the white gem on her chest. She then rummaged around her bag to then pull out a black mask with two light gray marks under the white, narrowed feline shaped eye holes, followed by a little lavender flower bulb with an oval shaped glass protecting it.

"Let's put you somewhere safe okay?" Devine smiled at the plant, pulling off the protective case to set it down on one of the nightstands before diving back into her bag for a large sliver V shaped ring with three lavender diamond shaped jewels decorating the sides. She clasped it around her neck happily, before reaching out for the other Paladins with her quintessence, gently nuzzling them before pulling back.

"Looks like everyone's alright." She mused with glee, feeling Hunk and Lance returned a little haggard, but alive with their lions. "Now let's go welcome them back." She squealed happily as she ran/floated to the main deck, where all the Paladian's gathered, along with the great feelings of accomplishment.

~Voltron~

"Yeah, we had a tough time too." Pidge shared a smirk with Shiro as Lance and Hunk explained their last minute retrieval of the Yellow lion, right before there was a flash of light that not only blinded everyone, but knocked the wind out of the youngest paladin, who was suddenly being bare hugged about 5 feet in the air.

"I knew you could do it Pidge! Your family would be so proud of you." Devine happily exclaimed as she hugged the green paladin happily. "Can't... breath..." Pidge struggled to get out until Devine loosened her hold to a tolerable level. "AH! Put me down please!" Pidge pleaded as they fearfully wrapping their arms and legs around the older female after seeing how high they were in the air. "Sure, Hun." Devine laughed as she happily drank in the remaining positive emotions, floating down to the floor to release Pidge to stand safely on solid ground.

"Care to dim the lights too?" Keith asked, squinting behind his arms to try and see anything as Devine blushed with an excited smile. "Sorry, give me a few ticks." She responded, taking a slow deep breath, holding it and then slowly letting it go to dim her bright excited glow. "Hey! How come Pidge got a hug?" Lance pouted, noticing the change in wardrobe. "We were attacked by Galra. Don't we deserve one too?" He asked, pointing to himself and Hunk who looked like he also wanted a hug. "Okay, come here you two." Devine smiled as she opened her arms to them, Lance and Hunk both smiled as they hugged her happily , the contact energizing her as she gave them a bit more feelings of confidence and assurance before separating.

"I see that little cat nap of yours did wonders." Allura spoke up, glad that the other young woman was so full of energy now. "Yes, and thank you, Coran for showing me that room. It really helped me relax and feel my own emotions for a change." She smiled at the older Altean gratefully who blushed with pride. "Your very welcome milady~, now I'm afraid I have some bad news, but there's also some good news." He added, as her eyes widen and then narrowed, already knowing both.

"What's the bad news?" Shiro asked, looking concerned and a little hurt to be left out of the hug give away along with Keith who tried to hide his slight jealousy of the warm attention she had given then other paladins.

"Well, the Galra battleship is now currently orbiting over Arus. But the good news is, we're on Arus!" Coran tried to make it sound exciting but the younger paladins looked shocked and afraid. "They're here already!?" Shiro asked in shock before an infamous face appeared on the main screen. "Sendick." Devine spat out hatefully as the gems on her suit turned a dark gray, Hunk and Lance stepping away from her as they could feel her growling lowly and see the dangerous gray sparks she admitted, glaring at the one eyed Galra on screen as he spoke sternly.

"Princess Allura, this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire." Sendak began, looking at Princess Allura with disinterest, making everyone gasp in surprise and fear. "I come on the behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the known Universe. I am here to confiscate the lions. So turn them over to me, as well as your little friend there..." he demanded glancing at a scowling Devine with a confident smirk, infuriating the woman who knew why he wanted her. "Or I will destroy Arus." He ordered, not waiting for a response before the communication was cut.

The silence was thick in the air before Shiro spoke up calmly.

"All right, let's not panic."

"Not panic!?" Hunk piped up fearfully. "Th-That scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship toward us and we only have four lions!"

"Technically, we only have three working lions." Pidge corrected, adding to the big guy's distress. "That's not helping." Devine scolded the youngest paladin, feeling Hunk's panic fill the room like an unpleasant fart. "He's right. Thank you, Pidge. Three working lions and a castle that's, like, 10,000 years old!" Hunk exclaimed before Coran chimed in. "Actually, it's 10,600 years old. You see, it was built by my grandfather-" He launched into the story proudly, but got interrupted by Hunk. Who put his pointer finger against Coran's lips to shut him up.

"Thanks, Coran. Thank you, for that. See? Now is the perfect time to panic!" Hunk yelled, clearly panicked.

"No it isn't. It's just what Sendick wants us to do, to make you guys weaker." Devine spoke up, growling the Galra's name hatefully. "There's no way he's going to Zarkon with just one Lion that can't be useful to him, and he can't just go and ask for backup. Not when the other lions are all right in front of him, he wouldn't share his glory with another commander, epically within his own sector. " She glowed with confidence, knowing they would get back Ruby and destroy the ship eventually... even if Sendak would come to haunt them later.

"She's right, and the castle has a particle barrier we can activate." Allura added helpfully, feeling at ease until Lance opened his mouth.

"Girl, you've already activated my par-"

"Lance." Shiro interrupted, calling the young paladin's name, giving him a look of disapproval; Lance shrank back like a little kid that had just been scolded by his father as he pouted.

"The Particle barrier won't hold off that ships ion cannon forever. Galra technology must have advanced since we last fought them. " Coran stated while the image of Sendak's ship showed up on a screen, looking rather intimidating with its large size and weaponry.

"Not really. They've taken over so many other planets and used their tech over any thing truly Galra made. The only thing really Galra about their ships now is the color and the crew. Even then it's only a handful of Galra on each ship at most, since their numbers have been dwindling for the past few centuries or so, and their qualifications for solders are so rigorous and single minded not many can even make it into military, let alone make a good for filling career out of it." Devine vomited the information to very one, shocking them with all her knowledge of the Galra.

"H-how do you know this?" Allura asked, slightly scared and worried as she gave the princess a confident smile.

"I've been collecting information that has brush off as useless for quite a while. Such a the dwindling population of so called Pure Galra and the rising number of half breeds, where certain foods are going and in what quantity between shipments, the number of Galra that work more mundane jobs not associated with the military, even their Galaxy net usage. Do you really think ALL Galra are just mindlessly following Zarkon princess?" Devine smiled softly as she looked at everyone. "We are not alone in this fight, just scattered, and others have been biting their time, gathering Intel to bring down Zarkon once and for all." She chuckled, thinking of the rebels, Matt, the Blade of Marmora, Kolivan and Ulaz, the other aliens they were bound to meet like Rolo, Nyma, Shay, and even Slav hopefully.

"So why not share it with the best chance the universe has of beating him?" Devine said with great confidence as she glowed a bright white before them. "I agree, Miss Devine." Shiro smiled at her, making the woman shine in happiness but struggle to not become a blinding beam. "We just need to figure out a plan of action and quickly." The handsome paladin concluded as Hunk's shoulders slacked in defeat. Devine bit her lip, already knowing the plan Shiro would come up with, but she watched as his brain worked it out on his own. His jaw and neck tensed, the edge of his lips pulled down in a slight but thoughtful frown, gray eyes darkening as they narrowed to focus on a plan.

"I say we pop through a wormhole and live to fight another day." Lance suggested, snapping her out of admiring the Black paladin. "I second that." Hunk supported his friend, also rising his hand like his friend. "I mean, we tried to get all the lions, right? We gave it the good old college try." She could feel the nervousness of both paladins being very strong. "We couldn't do it. We only have three so we can't form Voltron. I guess we could form something like a snake, or a worm! To go through that hole you where talking about, Lance." Hunk suggested helpfully as Lance smiled at the suggestion.

"Then it's settled. Allura. Devine. You'll ride with me. One of you guys can take the old guy." Lance declared as the two females gave him flat looks while Coran's face turned red in anger at being called old. "Lance! Respect your elders. We are not going to let Arus and its people be destroyed by that monster!" Devine reprimand the boy disapprovingly, making the blue paladin shrink back at her outrage.

"Yeah, the Galra will just keep destroying planets and capturing prisoners until we actually put a stop them." Pidge correctly assumed, looking very irritated about something. "Okay, but maybe if we run, Sendak will follow us and leave this planet alone. Like when we left Earth. We can form the snake-worm thing-a-majig and we, hiss, out of here." Hunk suggested hopefully as Devine sighed sadly. "It's not gonna work." She mentioned before Keith piped up.

"Sendak could-" "Would." "He would destroy the planet and come after us any way." Keith frowned at Devine's interruption, but he believed her, the Galra commander could and would destroy the planet even if they left.

"Staying is our only option." The red paladin gave his firm opinion.

"Here's an option: Shut your Quiznak." Lance cursed at Keith as he made a zip-it motion over his mouth, making Allura and Coran cringe at the misuse of their language.

"I don't think you're using that word correctly." Keith scowled at Lance who was about to retort before Devine grabbed the front of his t-shirt and stuffed something rectangular and white into his mouth. The blue paladian's eyes widen as a foul taste assaulted his tongue, he wanted to get rid of it but Devine had her hand firmly over his mouth, as her eyes gave off smokey gray sparks.

"I will warn you now young man. Do not ever use words you do not know the meaning to. That was a foul word you just used that should never be used by ANYONE." She growled out, Coran hid behind Allura out of fear because he had said it first. "If I hear another foul word like that come out of your mouth, I will shove another bar of non-toxic soap into your dirty little pie hole. Do you understand?" she asked as Lance nodded his head, feeling the soap start to lather up on his tongue. "Good." Devine nodded as she removed her hand from his mouth, letting him spit out the travel sized soap bar, sending it clear across the room.

"Agh! GROWS!" Lance yelled as he stuck his soap covered tongue and ran it over the sleeves of his jacket in desperation.

"I'm a little scared to ask." Keith spoke up as everyone stared at Devine for her rather extreme reaction to a single word. "Coran, what does Quiz- that word mean?" Allura asked, catching herself from saying that word as the older Altean paled. "It's a crude Altean word for reproduction. Just so everyone is aware that is a very bad word that should never be said again." Devine told them, as they all looked at her, shocked. "Oh my!" the princess exclaimed in surprise, a blush over coming her cheeks, now understanding Devine's reaction and her mother's reaction from when she said it as a child, having heard it from her own father's mouth after he got hurt suddenly.

"So with that out of the way, what are we going to do, princess?" Shiro looked to Allura. "They are your lions. You and Miss Devine have dealt with the Galra Empire before. You two know what we're up against the best out of all of us. What do you think is the best course of action?" Devine frowned in slight jealousy, Allura had Shiro's complete attention because he though she knew the Galra better and that the Lions belonged to the Altean princess. Allura who looked away from Shiro's strong gaze.

"I...I don't know." Allura admitted nervously, as gray sparks where admitted from Devine's eyes as she crossed her arms; the younger paladin's took a step away from the sparking woman.

"Perhaps your father can help." Coran suggested helpfully as Allura became confused and hopeful at the mention of King Alfor.

~Voltron~

"This is nerve racking." Devine admitted as she closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, feeling lots of fear from at least two of the paladins, anger, worry, frustration, and... concern? "Are you alright Miss Devine?" Shiro asked as he noticed the empath looking pained. "Yes, I will be once the princess makes a decision." Devine stressed the word with controlled anger, it just seemed like such an easy decision to make.

Fight or Flee?

She would choose fight since they had three lions with a forth coming into their reach, but she wasn't raised as a royal Altean 10,000 years ago. Allura needed the emotional support of her father's memories to tell her to fight to protect an planet, one that had safe guarded her for ten millennia, filled with oblivious and innocent Arusians she had come to know first hand. Devine could understand that Allura was scared, she could feel it clearly, yet it seemed the princess had lead a rather enchanted life before Zarkon's betrayal, she was severely under qualified to actually lead the soon to be Legendary Defenders. Allura just let Shiro, the natural leader, take the reins from her without contributing much to their overall plan. Then again, she wasn't much of a leader nor did she want other's depending on her for guidance, at least not yet.

"So... why did that cyborg ask for you along with the lions?" Pidge asked as Hunk and Lance realized the Galra commander wanted her too. "I'd like to know as well, you seemed pretty upset when you saw him on the screen." Shiro asked as he looked at her with worry. "I.. saved his life with Ruby's help." She admitted to them, earning gasps and surprised looks as she looked at the ground. 'After I cut off his old arm.' She added in her mind, smirking at the memory.

"Is that why Ruby looked like it was going to you instead of Keith?" Hunk asked, looking at her with wide eyes, talking about the red lion. "It was only a temporary thing. Then again I couldn't think of anyway anyone could have navigated threw all that lava. So... I thought I'd try get her myself, and I... kinda did." Devine explained, slightly proud of her self.

"Then how exactly did he steal Red from you then?" Keith asked, more curious then upset, Devine shrunk into her jacket in shame. "I... wasn't thinking really when I made her save him from the lava." She admitted bashfully. "I took care of his injuries, before I started talking to Ruby. I gave her a new name and then something hit me from behind. Next thing I know, I'm locked in a guarded room on his battleship." She hissed out with a deep frown.

"So let me get this striate. You saved the life of the alien that's currently threatening to destroy us if we don't give him our lions." Lance asked and Devine nodded. "Isn't there like, some honor code he has to follow, you literally save the guy's life! He owes you!" Lance pointed out. "I was also the one who pushed him into an active Volcano. So... that may have voided me saving his life." Devine reasoned, not understanding how else the injured Galra could just shoot her in the back after saving and treating his injuries. Then again, Sendek was a Commander under Emperor Zarkon's command.

"Oh..." the young paladian's stared at her in disbelief, before they wouldn't think she would be capable of anything really bad, but after seeing her shock Coran, fly, and punish Lance for his language they where weary of what she could do with that sword at her hip. "What's with the outfit then?" Keith asked, being the first to ask about the skin tight suit under the hoodie. "I'm going with you to get Ruby back." Devine told him simply as Keith looked surprised.

"What? You don't think I can do it myself?" he asked, glaring at her as she gave him a flat look. "Do you know exactly where Ruby is on that ship and how to get there? Where the robot sentries and the Galra are and how to avoid them?" She asked as Keith pouted. "No, but neither do you." He shot back defensively only to get a smirk in return. "This won't be my first time infiltrating a Galra command ship, and I escaped from that very ship." She admitted before the doors to the main deck opened.

Allura walked in confidently, dressed in her white and pink Altean space suit with her sliver blue hair pulled back and up into a practical bun. Devine relaxed a little feeling the princess's resolve and the Paladian's admiration for the princess rise, Shiro included, she had to bite back her childish jealousy.

"The Five of you where brought here for a reason. The Voltron Lions where destined to be piloted by you and only you." Devine bit her lip, as the princess continued. "We must stand our ground fight, and keep fighting until Zarkon is defeated. It is our fate as Voltron is the Universe's only hope. We are the universe's only hope." She finished with conviction and authority, but Devine could still feel she was scared of what the Paldians, Shiro, would say as her gaze fell on him.

"We're with you, Princess." Shiro assured her, cementing the team's actions as Allura's heart fluttered strangely, and Devine felt it in her own heart despite him not addressing her.

~Voltron~

They were escorted to a large room that was just above the bays for the lions; inside the room where five chambers containing the Paladin spade suits that matched the colors of each lion. "These are your suits of armor." Alllua presented them as each human stepped up to their corresponding colors, drinking in the site of the white suits with the Voltron crest adorned on the chests.

"Cool!" Lance's eyes sparkled as he was reflected in the containers glass.

"Outstanding." Shiro breathed, impressed with the imposing black and white armor.

"Nice." Keith smirked as he admired the deep red color on white.

"Oh, neat!" Pidge was intrigued, a little concerned as the suit appeared to be about a foot taller than her.

As for Hunk...

He stared at his yellow and white armor and then himself, comparing the suits normal appearance to his own build, feeling unsure of himself as he believed himself to be far too big. Devine spoke up to assure the smaller and larger paladins.

"They are Alltean made armor, they will not only protect you from the harshness of space, but the helmets will hide your identities fairly well. It's how the identity of the previous paladins where not widely known." She explained looking at a dejected Hunk. "Another perk to Altean made armor is that it can expand or contract to fit its wearer, no matter how big or how small they are." She informed them looking at Pidge who seemed more excited by the news they could actually wear their armor with out worrying about their size or shape.

"You sure I'm not gonna rip my pants in this?" Hunk asked nervously as Devine placed a hand on his upper arm, white mist coming from her and entering Hunk along with the feeling of confidence. "No, you're not gonna rip your pants. In fact you would look like a real Hunk in it." She slightly joked with a soft smile as Hunk looked confused.

"But I am the real-Oh! Gotcha." Hunk realized what she meant, making her chuckle softly as he blushed nervously.

"Princess, are you sure about this? Aside from Miss Devine, and maybe their Alpha, they aren't exactly the best and brightest the universe has to offer." Coran tried to whisper to Allura as quietly as they could. "No, but they're all we've got." Allura whispered back. Devine had to roll her eyes as she whispered, clear across the room from them. "You two do realize this chamber can send whispers across the room, right?" she asked smirking as both Alteans jumped in surprise, looking at her.

"WITCH!" Coran yelled in surprise, as Allura looked ashamed at being caught.

"Why don't you guys go try them on?" Devine suggested as Shiro nodded eagerly in agreement. "You heard the lady, Men. Time to suit up." Just as Shiro said that the chambers opened up to allow the Paladins to take their armor, Lance and Keith being the most eager to try them on, followed by Pidge, Hunk, and lastly Shiro.

'Hate to let him go, but I love the view~.' Devine purred, lightly blushing as she examed Shiro's back, from his neck down to his broad shoulders, strong wide back to the well muscled ass cheeks and legs inaction as he walked with confident steps before her attention was diverted to the Alteans. "Miss Devine we have an extra suit if you would like to join them." Allura suggested as Coran held out a space suit much like Allura's, only purple instead of pink and maroon replacing the blue on the shoulders and hips. It was clear who the pervious owner of the suit was.

"Thanks, I'm good with the one I have on for now. If you don't mind my asking..." Devine looked from the white and purple space suit, to Allura's that looked only slightly different form the Paladin armor. "Why are there pink and purple paladin armors? Are there more lions?" she asked, curious if there were really was ONLY five lions in this reality. "No, there are only five lions; these suits belonged to the wives of the previous Paladins." Allura touched the pink emblem on her chest plate, a sentimental look on her face. "My mother, Queen Amora, wore this one and-" The princess stopped herself from speaking the other name, but Devine knew it anyway.

"Empress Honerva, Zarkon's wife, wore the other one." Devine finished for her, conflicting emotions bubbling inside her, the thought to destroying the suit crossed her mind before thinking of ways it could be useful, as a sort of back up for emergencies.

"Y-you know about that too." Allura was genuinely surprised, and shocked that Devine even knew the name, and her connection to the former Black paladin. "She goes by Haggar now. I've very aware of her work." Devine growled closing her eyes as she gave off gray sparks, taking in a deep breath and holding it to keep from trembling. "Even the Empress is alive!? H-how!?" Coran asked, trembling as he dropped the suite, letting it drop to the ground with a soft thump as the helmet rolled up to Devine's feet.

"The same way Zarkon is still alive, Corrupted Quintessence." She slowly let out a breath, looking down at the helmet, wondering if she could crush it under her feet. Only to kneel down and pick it up, holding it for a moment as she closed her eyes, t first she flinched as the image of the 10,000 year old witch came to her mind. Only to fade away into an Altean woman, tanned skin stretched into a loving smile, golden eyes sparking with love as loose purple strands swirled behind her, like the tail of a comet as her arms where wide open to embrace the former Black paladin and-

"DEVINE!"

"AHHH!" She screamed in surprise at her new name being called so loudly, giving off several strands of yellow colored sparks that everyone in the room. "QUIZNAK!" Coran yelled in surprise more then pain, the only one not in a protective suit as he fell to the floor in a curled up position sucking his thumb in fear, an effect of the yellow sparks she admitted.

"Please make it go away mummy." The older Altean pleaded as he fought back uselessly as tears spilled from his eyes like a water fall.

"Yikes. I guess these things are empathy proof. What was that about?" Pidge asked, looking from Coran to Devine who looked sheepishly guilty. "Sorry, I was surprised... and it kinda... shot out?" she vaguely explained, embarrassed by her curiosity and selective attention span. "No surprises, got it." Lance voiced looking a little scared as Allura looked over Coran worriedly. "Coran said the bad word." Hunk pointed out, as Devine sighed uneasily at that she had done to the Altean. "I think he's being punished enough Hunk." Shiro spoke up as Coran came to his senses slowly standing up on shaky legs. "Well, that was something I haven't felt in 10,000 years. Never startle an Empath with other worldly skills." He shared his wisdom with the paladins, dusting himself off as he regained his composure.

"What was so interesting about that helmet? We were all calling your name." Keith asked as they all looked at her for an answer. Devine looked at the helmet unsurely, getting bits of images and a strange feeling from it. "Certain objects...can retain strong emotions, an imprint, or even memories, from those that possessed them." she told them, feeling her body grow warm and her heart pick up speed.

"What kind of emotions are you getting from it?" Shiro asked as he placed his left hand on her shoulder. Devine's golden eyes widen as she looked at him, Shiro's face was replaced with Zarkon's before his transformation with sparking purple pupils in his yellow eyes. His face coming closer to her own as her heart hammered heavily in her chest, her face heating up as pink sparks danced over Shiro's fingers from where he was touching her.

Suddenly Devine shot away from him until her back hit the wall, as she looked at the black paladin with wide unforced eyes, confusing the younger paladins as Shiro felt a little hurt by the look of horror on her face.

"Ohh~ very interesting." Coran smirked, as he realized what was going on and Allura looked a little confused and worried. "Regardless, Miss Devine, I would like you to wear the helmet. It will help you keep in contact with the rest of the team. Will it be any problem?" Allura asked as Devine took deep breaths to clam her raging heart. "N-no. I think I can mange. It's usually very limited, and the imprint vanishes after being in the position of another for too long." Devine explained once she was calm. "Then why the aversion to Shiro all of a sudden?" Hunk asked, and Coran answered with a knowing smile. "Well, the previous owner of that helmet was very much in love~ with the pervious Black paladin." Coran explained, making both Shiro and Devine blush, the older Altean grinned even as the empath glared at him.

'Coran, you are NOT helping!'

"In fact, she even ma-" Coran started but was quickly silenced by a bar of soap entering his mouth. "Agh! Phew! Why does it taste so horrible!?" the older Altean yelled as he let the bar of soap drop from his mouth, as Devine gave off a few sparks of gray as she stood beside him.

"I think we should get to the bayards now, don't you agree princess?" Devine asked Allura who nodded more out of confusion then fear as she summoned four white innocent looking devices in red, blue, yellow and green. "Right, the bayard is the traditional weapon of the Paladins of Voltron. It takes on a distinct shape for each paladin." Allura explained simply as the bayards floated to their paladins.

Once Hunk grabbed a hold of his, it turned into a large gun that resembled more of a cannon, taking both hands to just hold it up. Keith's bayard turned into a sword, and in response his armor spawned a shield on his left arm. Lance's bayard also turned into a sort of fire arm like Hunk's, only it reminded her of a classic sy-fi blaster. Pidge's bayard was easily the smallest, taking on a small arrow shaped blade along the outer edge. The smallest paladin gave a few swings to test it out before Lance noticed its size.

"Aww, you got a cute little bayard." Lance laughed in amusement, not prepared for Pidge to hit him in the unprotected side with the cute bayard. "AGH!" Lance cried in pain and surprise as he was shocked and fell to the floor with a pained groan as Pidge smirked, proud of the from the bayard took. "Yeah. It is pretty cute." the smallest paladin mussed proudly as Devine chuckled, braiding her hair, fixing it so that it would fit under her hood and not get in her way. "Sometimes, the cutest things are the most deadly." she warned, pining the braid into a secure bun, except for a few shorter strands that fell over her Altean pointed ears and forehead. Allura and Coran shared a look, staring at Devine in confusion, before Allira looked at the bayardless leader sadly.

"Shiro, I'm afraid your bayard has been lost along with its former paladin." Allura explained, not looking him in the eye as she gave deceptive a half truth. "I guess I'll just have to make do." Shiro said with confidence, giving a sad smile as he held his prosthetic arm. Biting her lip Devine wondered what she could feel if she touched that arm, or if it touched her~. "What about your weapon Miss Devine?" Allura asked as she eyed the sword with curiosity, Snaping the older woman out of her thoughts, as did the Paladins looked at her in curiosity when she gave a smirk. "I prefer to show, and not just tell." She said confidently as she placed a hand on the sheath before pulling out something that looked like a small apple like fruit out of a pouch, throwing it in the air.

They all watched the apple go up, after a brief flash, the fruit fell down... cut into eight pieces each falling into the hands of someone.

"Wow."

"Cool."

"Amazing."

"Impressive!"

"Is that even sanitary?" Hunk asked as he looked at the slice of delicious looking fruit, pointing at the pitch black blade of her Katana. "Yes, Hunk. I clean my sword regularly; it is perfectly fit to cut fruit and enemies." She smiled, eating her slice before pulling out a handkerchief to wipe the fruit juice off, leaving behind only the natural black shine of the special blade. Devine sheathed it slowly as everyone took in their piece of fruit into there mouth, even the Allura who was unsure of eating such an ill prepared food.

~Voltron~

"Everyone ready?" Shiro asked threw the communicators; Devine had to fight back a shiver of excitement at his voice being so close to her ears, while wearing the purple helmet that once belong to the Galra empress that applied her interest in the black paladin. "Yeah, just leave that big bag cannon to me and Hunk. You guys just worry about finding little Ruby~." Lance mocked Keith, who didn't like the girly name his lion already had. "I'm not calling my lion that." He bit back as Devine giggled. "Then you're going to have to bring that up with her and change it." She teased Keith, finding his pout adorable, but she had a feeling the name wouldn't change.

"Are you sure you know where Ruby is?" Pidge asked with a small grin, the ship's side dominating their view from the green lion.

"Yes, he couldn't have moved her from the hanger because of her barrier, but if we entered there we would be swarmed by the robotic sentinels in a heartbeat. The command deck, ironically, has the least secured access points, but that is most likely where Sendak and his crew will be." Devine explained before pointing to a small weakened point in the ship that looked like someone had cut it open, and then weld it shut.

"That... would be our best point of entry and escape." She smirked at the crude weld job that had certain Galra characters painted on it in purple. "What's it say?" Pidge asked, curious about the rather out of place characters.

"It says, 'Suck it, Sendick.'" Devine translated with a smirk, getting surprised looks form the larger paladins as Pidge openly laughed with amusement. "You've got to teach me that." Pidge grinned as Devine just smiled at them.

~Voltron~

"This way." Devine lead the group threw the halls, levitating high in the artificial gravity as the paladins ran after her on the ground. "Slow down, we can't fly remember." Keith scowled at the empath who finally stopped in mid air, looking back at them with worry. "Agh." Shiro groaned as he lumbered down the very familiar hall."Shiro? What's wrong?" Pidge asked, looking concerned for the older man as he looked around him at dark menacing purple halls. "I've... been here before." He tried to explain, Devine's blood ran cold at his words. "After I was taken by the Galra cruiser off Kerberos. They brought us here."

"So, that means the other crew members might be held captive here. We... We've got to rescue them." Pidge declared urgently. "They're not." Devine informed the young paladin who looked at her with wide, hurt eyes.

"How do you-"

"There are no human quintessence signatures onboard this ship beyond this hallway." Devine cut Pidge question short, telling the truth about not sensing any other humans. "Pidge, we don't have time. We have to get the Red lion and get back to Arus." Shiro tried to persuade the young one but it seemed to make the green paladin angry. "But we can't just leave prisoners here!" Pidge yelled angrily, Devine wanted to scold the child, if it wasn't for the mass feelings of sadness and desperation the little paladin gave off. "Look. No one understands that more than me but, in war... we have to make hard choices. Now, let's get moving." Shiro ordered sternly, Pidge made a face that nearly broke Devine's heart.

"NO!" Pidge yelled, the single word reverberating around them loudly as normally round and innocent eyes, stunning everyone in place. "Commander Holt is my father. He and my brother were the ones on the Kerberos Mission with you." Pidge finally admitted as Shiro's eyes widen at the information. "Commander Holt, is your father?" he asked, his brain looking for evidence to back Pidge's claim, and slowly figuring out the mystery that was before him. "I've been searching everywhere for him and my brother, and I'm not going to give up. Not when I'm this close." Pidge declared with determination, turning the other way before muttering something under their breath.

"I'm coming with you." Shiro called out, surprising the other two paladins. "What?" Keith questioned, feeling hurt and confused, pulling at Devine's heart strings even more then Pidge who looked at Shiro in disbelief. "I'll go with Pidge since Miss Devine knows where Ruby is, and I remember where the prisoners are held. Keith follow Miss Devine and get your lion."

"By ourselves?" Keith asked, Devine would have been insulted if it weren't for the feeling of abandonment that came off the young paladin. "Minor change of plans. You'll be fine." Shiro tried to assure him but it did nothing to dim the emo storm coming from Keith. "Take care of him Miss Devine." Shiro asked as he looked at her, getting a nod before turning to Keith again. "Remember, patience yields focus." Where Shiro's last words to Keith before they had to separate, a patrol drone having walking down the hallway between them.

~Voltron~

"Are we there yet?" Keith asked, getting irritated with Devine flying ahead of him, stopping just long enough for him to catch up before flying off again. "No. Not yet, you're throwing off my sense of direction a little with your emo brooding." She mentioned looking at the hall way like she was confused, but she had a plan.

"I am not Emo." He growled at her, irritated. "So you are upset Shiro chose Pidge over you." She mentioned as Keith was caught off guard.

"What!? No."

"Lair." She called him out about his not so hidden feelings, crossing her arms over her chest, staring down Keith sternly.

"I'm not." He lied, looking away from her.

"Keith, I can feel your emotions. No matter how hard you may try, or what emotion you're trying to hide, I can still feel it." She told him as the young man shifted uncomfortably and exposed to the strange female. "Shiro going with Pidge made you feel: worthless, abandoned, betrayed... alone." She named all his emotions, seeing her old self in Keith. Only she hoped to take him on a different path then she did... and maybe a slightly happier one then what was intended for him in her old world.

"He can't be there for you forever you know." She told him and Keith looked at her helplessly. "Yeah, but..." words failed him as he clenched his fists only for Devine to place her hands on top of his.

"Take a deep breath." She instructed seriously.

"What?" he looked at her confused.

"You are gonna find Ruby. Now take a deep breath." She instructed, taking a deep breath herself as Keith just looked at her, a warm feeling entering his fists as he uncurled them and took a deep breath and let it out quickly.

"We don't have time for this." Keith told her, getting irritated.

"Again, this time, hold it for a few seconds and release slowly. Now breathe in." she demonstrated, holding her breath waiting for Keith who did as she told him.

"Slowly out."

Keith still huffed out his breath.

"Breath in, again but close your eyes this time." She told him closing her eyes as she held Keith's hands, transferring some calm into him. Keith breathed in closing his eyes as he felt slightly warmer with the strangely cold air entering his chest.

"Breathe out." Keith exhaled, a little slower this time as he felt his hot blood running threw his veins under his skin.

"Breath in." Keith did, a strange spicy taste touching his tongue and the smell of a burning fire entered his nose.

"Breath out." Keith exhaled much more slowly, and behind his eye lids he could, feel Devine? He wasn't sure how as the female slowly stepped away from him and the warm feeling went away, he was about to call out to her when he heard her voice?

'Breath in.'

Keith breathed in slowly, feeling warm flakes of air inter his nose and fill his lungs, his blood burning comfortably threw his body as he started to feel something else besides Devine, and much larger. "I know where Ruby is." Keith breathed out, eyes snapping open at a grinning and glowing Devine. "She's this way." Keith ran in the right direction, leaving Devine to float behind him, with a proud smile.

~Voltron~

They finally entered the room where Ruby waited, her particle barrier up as she waited for the two.

"Bingo. Let's get out of here." Keith smiled as he and Devine quickly headed for the lion, the young man felt pride as not only did he find it, but it was opening up for him quickly, only to have the barrier to shut him out. "Open up. It's me. Keith. Your buddy. I am your paladin!" Keith shouted at the Lion, his eyes widening as Devine turned to look at him, surprised and on the INSIDE of the barrier with the lion. She could feel Keith's emotions of disappointment, betrayal and worthlessness become stronger.

"How did you get in?" he asked angrily, hitting the barrier as Devine bit her lip... she wasn't telling him something. "She only opened up to me, but I have her trust. You need to earn her respect to get us out of here." She told him worriedly looking at Ruby who was quiet and still. "How am I supposed to do that?" Keith asked, frustrated as seven Galra sentries stormed into the room and started firing their weapons at him, ignoring Devine. Keith managed to block the lasers with his shield in time, Devine panicking a little as there where far more then Keith originally had to fight from what she knew.

"Keith! Ruby let me out. He can't handle that many sentries alone!" Devine demanded from the lion as she struck the barrier desperately, not able to leave it with the lion's attention on Keith, it made a chill run threw her body as more sentries flooded in. "You're not taking this Lion!" Keith shouted as he went from defense to offence, worrying Devine as she banged her fists on the barrier harder, hoping to divert some attention to herself only to fail. She watched as Keith's sword turned back into it's original form and then looked at the control panel next to him.

"Keith! No!" Devine knew what he was going to do before he actually opened the bay doors, the vacuum of space sucking all the air out, along with the sentries as Keith was barely holding on to the panel. Devine's heart nearly stopped as she saw the debris come at the young paladin in slow motion, the first one hitting his face thankfully protected by his helmet, before another one made him lose his only hold on the panel. The site of Keith disappearing into the dark abyss of space was haunting and fear inducing for her as large yellow bolts sprouted from her body, striking the lion who absorbed the energy making their eyes glow in activation.

"KEITH!" Devine shouted just as Ruby roared, scooping up Devine in her mouth before rushing to Keith's rescue. The young man was shocked and relived to see the lion come for him, but even more so as Devine gave him a tight hug, soft pink sparks glimmering off her body as she held him protectively.

'Thank goodness you're okay.'

Keith's eyes widen as he heard Devine's voice in his head, confusing him as she calmed down enough and let go of him slowly. Tears in her eyes as she smiled at him, taking the red paladin by surprise. "Now let's get back to the castle." She voiced and Keith nodded as they entered Ruby's cockpit. "Good kitty, Ruby." Keith whispered to the red lion as Devine grinned behind him.

"What was that about changing her name~?" Devine teased lightly as Keith blushed in realization, and like any typical teen.

"S-shut Up." He pouted with a small blush, feeling a strange new emotion in his chest.

~Voltron~

The Lions where gathered inside the castle, Shiro already standing before the doors that sealed away the Black Lion, but Devine felt uneasiness come from all the Lions. "What's wrong?" She asked the red lion softly, as she touched the controls tenderly. Keith looked at her confused but saw that the other lion's where not doing anything special to open the doors. "Ah? Aren't the Lions supposed to do something? Like roar maybe?" Hunk asked, sitting in the yellow lion awkwardly.

"Do the green and yellow Lions want names too?" Pidge asked a little hesitance with naming the robotic cat.

"Something's wrong, the lions are not opening the door to the Black Lion." Allura stated worriedly as she appeared on all the Paladin's screens. "What? Is it still in time out or something?" Lance asked, annoyed and tired from all the work he and Hunk did, disarming the Galra battleship to buy time for them to get all the lions togeather.

"Devine?" Keith looked at her as she bit her lip nervously. "Lance is... right. Kind of." She admitted much to the shock of everyone. "There's still some dark influence in Obsidian. The other lions can sense it, and they don't want to open the doors." She translated the lion's emotions, just as the black lion reached out to her.

'I knew you would be back little cub~.'

She could hear Shiro's voice purr in her mind, making her blush. "Ruby, let me out." Devine asked the lion; Keith was shocked the lion did as she asked, without him even controlling her to do so. The woman soon joined Shiro before the massive doors that locked away the final lion.

"Miss Devine?" the Voltron leader called her name worriedly as the black lion chuckled in amusement.

'He calls you Devine? How adorable~. I wonder if he's interested in a sample? Probably not since he called you Miss. Almost as if you where just a little girl to him and not a desirable woman~.' The lion taunted cruelly, gray sparks danced on Devine's skin at the psychological jab.

"Shut up!" She growled at the doors, but Shiro looked at her in shock and confusion to what he thought was her response to his question.

'Oh~ this little cub has some bite to her. What are you going to do? Shower me in glitter?' the black lion chuckled, unafraid of the young woman who sighed as she got a rather idea before turning to look at the other four lions.

"Ruby." She called out to the red lion, eyes lighting up in response.

"Sapphire." The blue lion followed, lighting up as well.

"Peridot." The green lion's eyes glowed with curiosity and interest.

"Topaz." the yellow lion was the last to pay attention to her. The Paladins and the princess watched them in confusion as Devine hesitated with her next words. "Open the door." She asked them, getting long growls as it put the lions at ill ease. "What? Miss Devine? What are you doing?" Shiro asked, only to be ignored by the woman which wounded the paladin slightly.

"Princess Allura, once the door is open enough for me to slip inside, close and lock it behind me." Devine instructed, bracing for the tsunami of emotions from everyone.

"WHAT!?" they shouted collectively, as the lions gave displeased growls. "The Lions don't want to open the door! You think we would let you get locked in there!?" Lance asked, worried and concerned. "Miss Devine, think of what you're doing. The black lion doesn't sound safe, let me handle it. I'm-" Shiro was saying before Devine's hand slipped behind his head, her lips met his own for a few ticks in a sudden kiss, the pink sparks between them made Shiro blush at the unexpected action.

"Whoa." Hunk and Pidge watched the kiss from their lions with wide eyes. "No way! I should be down there! Sapphire get me down there now!" Lance yelled in outrage, jealous of the older paladin. Keith was confused for a moment, as cold chill came over him. Meanwhile, Allura on the main deck felt a stab of envy, pink dusted her cheeks from just watching Devine kiss Shiro so bravely, before pull away after exactly 7 ticks... a fine strand of saliva dripping between her tongue and Shiro's open mouth as he stared at her in stunned disbelief.

'No regrets.' Devine thought with a deep blush over taking her face, as the lions gave a collective roar as she stepped away from the older paladin, the doors opening only a little as Devine turned and ran into the Black Lion's hanger. Her white hair and pink sparks where the only lighting the space, producing enough light for everyone to get a glance of the Black lions lethal looking claws being restrained by thick chains.

"DEVINE!" Shiro called out to her, snapping out of his daze to late as the doors shut tightly behind her.

"Devine!" He yelled in panic as he hit the door, only for an amused chuckle to echo in his mind. The other paladins feeling something rather disturbing flow threw them as they tensed in shock.

"Z-zarkon?" Shiro questioned, paling before banging on the door again to get it open. "Allura! Open the door! Devine is in trouble!" he shouted, frustrated when the doors didn't open as the Princess tried to ignore Shiro's desperate request, feeling a bit shaken at the energy that had leaked out from the Black lion's prison.


	3. Chapter 3, Teasing Emotions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has more of the naughtier content I wanted to put in originally. May post the Mini chapters in their own space.

_**~Chapter 3, Teasing Emotions~** _

Devine's face was burring from her impulsive action to kiss the Voltron Leader, her heart hammered ageists her rib cage, wanting another kiss from the Paladin's warm lips.

' ** _Seems you just said your fair well to this world, or rather... kissed it~.'_** The black lion teased in the dark room, but Devine didn't need to see as the lion's corrupted quintessence was enough of a look. In her senses she could already see it was almost like a mange infested, skin and bones cat like body with torn bat like wings pined to its back by chains made of physical quintessence.

"I may have messed up this world, so I'm gonna set it right." she stated firmly, approaching the corrupted lion who chuckled in realization.

' ** _Oh~ now I can feel it. The resemblance... how did I miss this? I wonder~_** **'** the lion purred as Devine took deep and steady breaths for what she was about to do.

 ** _'Do you really think you can tame ME!'_** It asked as Devine felt something snap at her, of course she filched.  Her back hit the hanger doors, riddled with shallow claw marks from the black lion's attempts to escape, the doors had to be thick to keep the vicious lion locked away.

"I-i'm not here to tame you... I'm here to heal you." Devine stuttered as her legs shook and tears dripped down her face as she gave a sad smile, feeling the lion’s deep hurt that felt... familiar.

' ** _What!? Foolish little cub, do you wish to meet with death that badly? Then let me give you an early appointment!'_** The black lion lunged at her the best it could, its chains tighten and glow white around the massive beast, stopping it short of crushing Devine in its massive jaws.

' _Bring it on, Obie.'_ Devine though as she laughed softly, stepping within range and holding her hands out to the Lion's nose, eyes narrowed in determination, glowing almost the same shade of purple as the black lion's quintessence in the semi dark hanger. Obsidian roared in anger and lunged for the tiny being. Ramming its nose into her chest, knocking the air out of her lungs, but Devine firmly planted her crystal claws into the lion's muzzle, purple sparks arching across her body painfully as it exited her body and went into the lion.

A desperate, blood curdling scream filled the hanger as she felt the lion’s quintessence, feeling its deep rooted pain as she trembled in both pain and fear.

**_~Voltron~_ **

" ** _DEVINE_**!"

The Paladins called out her name desperately as they looked at the door in fear and worry.

"Allura! Open them! Now!" Shiro commanded urgently, trying to pry open the door with his bare hands as the princess tried to find some sort of override to open the hanger doors again. "I can't. It seems only the other lions can open the black lion's hanger doors. What possessed them to think this was a good idea?" she asked worriedly form the main deck. "Then lets' get the lions to open them. Where's the roar button at?" Lance asked looking for the nonexistent button desperately. "Did she scream!? I heard her scream! Is she gonna die!?" Hunk asked worriedly as Pidge was frozen in place by the chilling scream.

"Come on Red, we've got to help her. She's in there all alone." Keith pleaded with his lion, trying to move her, but to no avail. "Agh! You liked her so much over me, why are you being so cold to her now?" He asked, slamming his fists on the console and getting a weird static from his controls just before all the Lions roared, letting the doors open again.

Only this time it was all the way, but the humans couldn't see past the blinding purple light that was inside.

"Devine!" Shiro yelled seeing something black and white get tossed into the main hanger, without thinking, the black Paladin caught the limp body of the empath, slam into the front paws of the red lion, the air was knocked from his lungs from catching her, but cradled the weakened female in his arms. Both Shiro's and Devine's eyes opened wide as they glowed a bright white, the Black lion's golden eyes shined bright as the chains crumbled away, the lights inside diming to show that the Black lion was back to its majestic form and watching the two small beings intently.

"What? What happened?" Shiro blinked away the white in his eyes in confusion, he looked down at the woman in his arms; finding her to be a lot heavier then she looked.

' ** _I wouldn't let her know that, My New Paladin~.'_**

"Devine?" Shiro questioned as he saw her eyes drop into an unforced daze, looking too weak to even speak.

' _ **No. I am the Black Lion, Obsidian.'**_ Devine's voice purred in his mind proudly, as he looked at Devine and then the lion in confusion. " _Obsidian_? You can talk?" He questioned as his eyes widen as he heard the lion scoff. ' ** _Of course I can, not that you would understand my words. My little cub that you have in your arms is translating, so that you may understand me. So I can say this to you only once.'_**

The black lion spoke to him before letting out a powerful roar that shook the castle, even more so as the other lions joined her, voicing their agreement with their powerful leader. Shiro relaxed a little as he smiled while looking down at a nearly out cold Devine. "Of course I will protect her." Shiro agreed readily before Devine's eyes shut going completely slack in his arms.

"Agh! How heavy is she?" he asked, surprised by the short woman's already abnormally heavy weight seemed to increase.

**_~Voltron~_ **

Devine lay on her stomach as she slowly came to, the lavender sheets pulled over her body. Her suit removed leaving her in a lavender tank top and white shorts. She lay in a daze before getting up to look around confused. "This isn't... my room?" she blinked rubbing her eyes as she tried to focus, the bed was larger than she was used to, it could fit about five more people on it comfortably. It was really soft and smelled like Juniberry flowers as she breathed in the scent of the sheets. Her vision clearing and she could see the lavender colored walls that had her confused before she recognized the little lavender bulb on her night stand.

"I'm... really in... the castle of Lions." She smiled softly, sending out her quintessence to feel for the others. She could feel the paladins in their rooms, just down the hall, as Allura and Corran where on the main deck. "What did I miss?" she asked slipping across the silk like sheets before her bare feet touched the floor, getting up on shaky feet she went to her bag and pulled out some extra clothes before going to the private bathroom where her eyes widen in amazement.

"Wow! This is bigger than my old room." she looked at the deep white marble like sink, the thrown like toilet, the glass walk in shower and large in floor bath tub that was more like a small pool, several fancy looking bottles where sitting in a glass case that also had three books and clean towels ready for use. "I think I'll try out that shower first." Devine smiled, as she eagerly stripped and basked in the warm water creasing over her cold skin, washing out her hair and running her claws threw the white strands. She plucked out some troublesome crystals, setting them aside in an empty glass vase, before she came out of the wonderful shower and began dying herself off, getting into clean clothes. A conferrable pair of light gray jeans and a long sleeved lavander top that covered her neck but didn't cover her crystal covered upper back.

Devine looked at her back, the crystals forming two small wing like patterns on her shoulder blades, the newer crystals taking on a slightly different tint form the older ones. Sighing she picked up her baggy black jacket and slipped on her boots before quietly leaving her room, quickly getting her bearings before she made her way to the elevator, checking on the sleeping Paladins as she went.

Lance was dreaming about girls, she rolled her eyes as she felt his excitement and love. Hunk exotic alien food, she chuckled and thought of a few things the yellow paladin might like to know about alien cooking. Pidge was dreaming about finding Matt, a soft smile stretching her lips as she knew it would come true. Keith... was defeating Zarkon, it amused her to also hear the young boy's voice as he slept, growling out their enemies name as he dreamed.

As for Shiro...

Devine stopped in front of his door, knowing and sensing that he was up with restlessness. The image of Shiro working out in his skin tight paladin armor was tempting to see in person, but so was actually helping him get to sleep. Quickly building up her courage, she came closer to his door with a raised fist to knock only to be pleasantly surprised as she got an unrestricted eye full of his, scared, naked chest and neck.

"Miss Devine, you're up." Shrio voiced in slight surprise, a smile tugging on his lips as he saw that she was alright. "Oh! Um, yeah. I was just going to check on everyone. How... how did the battle with Sendak go?" She asked nervously, gulping down her blush as she took in Shiro's scars... having seen where he had gotten them, something tempted her to run her fingers across his scared skin. Only she could feel Shiro's nervousness clearly with him being so close and half naked in front of her.

' _Did the battle go differently? Danm it! Why is he shirtless!? I can't think with a half naked Shiro in front of me!'_ She panicked inwardly biting her lip before Shiro spoke up.

"We formed Voltron and destroyed his Battleship. Are you alright Miss Devine?" he asked, concerned as he saw her looking at all his scars. It made him a little self-conscious to have his scars exposed to her eyes. He was about to reach out for her shoulder only to stop his prosthetic arm from touching her, worried about what she would see if it touched her. So it shocked him to see her actually grab his Galra arm and seem unaffected by whatever she saw.

"I'm fine, just disappointed that I missed seeing Voltron form for the first time in 10,000 years." She told him, holding his hand as she could feel and see what had been done to the Voltron leader threw the imprint, the sites of blood and carnage didn't faze her as much as Shiro's pain and guilt from killing them was heavily imprinted into the prosthetic limb. "There's always next time but if you don't mind me asking..." he closed his prosthetic fingers closed around her hand gently, pink sparks coming from her skin.

"What happened back in the hanger with Obsidian?" Shiro asked, concerned as he looked down at her, biting her lip, a tell sign he had noticed that meant she was not saying something, restraining herself. "She... was corrupted by Zarkon. That's why the others hesitated, because they had to chain her up in the first place." Devine told him, nervous as she was so close to a half naked, attractive young man that was holding her hand and seemed to... care about her from what she could feel emanating from his familiar quintessence.

"Why go in there alone? You could have gotten hurt, or worse." Shiro trailed off as he watched her eyes close and her body relax. Devine could feel his concern wrapping around her like a cozy blanket, it felt nice but her heart was beating loudly in her ears at the feeling. She let herself enjoy it for a moment before letting out a composed breath. "I extracted the corruption, because I knew I could get rid of it." She told him, biting her lip but Shiro didn't want to press her for more details. "You should have let us handle it. Obsidian was growling at me because I said you were heavy." He admitted with a soft smile only to get a rather sudden and forceful fist to his side, where a rather large scare still remained, making him pull away from the woman that was almost the same height as Keith.

"Here's a few tips for you, One: Never call any female heavy, **_EVER_**." She scolded him, smoky gray sparks dancing across her skin, as she let go of his prosthetic hand to raise one finger then another. "Two: my suit has added extra weights added for strength training, and Three:..." she trailed with the last one as Shiro's face was so close to hers as he smiled knowingly.

"I'm glad you're okay, but let me help you next time. You're not alone and you don't have to be." His voice was soft, and sincere as he cupped her cheek with his large, warm, REAL hand. His thumb creasing her sensitive Altean markings as his middle finger pressed into a spot behind her ear that made her shiver, she blushed and sparked pink at the far too soothing motion she didn't want to stop feeling.

"I... I...I've got to check on Allura and Coran!" Devine said suddenly, as she stepped out of the paladin's reach to restrain herself, as a bright red blush and pink sparks danced across her tanned skin. "G-get some sleep. I want to see _all of you_ from Voltron." She explained, looking away from him before literally flying to the elevator, leaving a visible trail of pink sparks in her wake that slowly faded.

Shiro chuckled as he watched the pink sparks, to him they looked like the cherry blossom petals he and his parents used to go see every spring.

"I wonder what emotion pink means." He mused before grabbing some clean clothes before going to shower.

**_~Voltron~_ **

' _That was even better than expected!'_ Devine thought as she sparked pink and white, the image of a shirtless Shiro exciting her before she took a deep breath to calm herself.

"Calm down, he's not a toy you can play with... he's Obie's paladin and the leader of Voltron." She reasoned with herself as she stopped sparking and gave a worried frown as the two Alteans seemed to have been on the main deck for a while. "I hope I can convince Allura to let them rest. Shiro not sleeping could be the real reason they couldn't form Voltron last time, and maybe some proper food." Devine shivered as she remembered the sewage sludge looking stuff Corran tried to feed them from what her reality showed her.

"I'm glad I got those recipes from Master Antok. Who would have thought he would love cooking." She mused fondly remembering her time training with her masters, Antok having taught her about survival on harsher planets and about edibles that tasted good together. Then he taught her a few common Galra dishes that managed to survive from 10,000 years ago and some his family had made themselves. "I'm sure Hunk's gonna love it. I wonder if I could teach him some of the recipes... would it upset Master Antok if I passed them down?" She pondered before the elevator stopped as she arrived to the main deck, Allura and Corran at the controls.

"Let's test the Alarm systems and our new Paladians." Allura suggested and Corran seemed to agree with her. **_"No!"_** Devine boomed as she flew to physically stop the princess, and let the humans get their much needed REM sleep. "Miss Devine, I see your up and doing well." Allura smiled at the woman, looking a little worried for the older Altean female. "We almost thought the Black lion, had killed you, but Shiro assured us that you just needed some rest." Allura seemed genuinely happily to see her, making Devine let go of her before she let out a sigh. "Yes, and so do the Paladins. Give them a few more Varga and they will be refreshed and able to start training." she suggested, making the princess pout. "No. The universe has suffered long enough under Zarkon's rule. They must wake to form Voltron till they can do it in their sleep. Then they can rest." Allura reasoned as Devine shook her head in disagreement.

"Be reasonable here Allura. They were taken trillions of light-years away from their home, thrust into a strange new world to begin a war with a powerful, and experienced warrior leading a massive empire, the likes of which their kind have never even _**seen**_ before, and even putting the responsibility of winning said war on their shoulders is just to much!" Devine ranted worriedly, taking a deep breath before continuing for the Paladins' behalf. "Before this, their biggest problem was Homework, getting good grades, and even just getting back home with some ice for some fucking stupid research!" Devine yelled, trembling as she cursed, clenching her fists into tight balls before composing herself, the Altens looked at her with wide eyed shock.

"I know you want to avenge Altea, your father, and everyone that has suffered because of Zarkon's greed for quintessence but..." Devine informed the princess who thought about it for a moment, hesitating, the older woman could see a way to convince the Altean royal. "It's better to do things right, then quickly. We can and will defeat Zarkon and _ALL_ of his followers. _**IF**_ we take our time and build up our own solid faction against him to back the Paladins... so they don't have to carry this heavy burden alone." She reasoned as the princess started at her wide eyed as tears started to build in the Altean girl's eyes, along with a feeling of familiarity falling between them.

"W-what's wrong Lura?" Devine asked, startled by the tears as she reflexively wiped way the princess tear's gently, creasing the pink markings that faintly glowed at her touch."That's what Queen Amora used to say to Allura when she was younger." Coran explained, looking a bit pained at the mention of the Altean queen. It was confusing as there was never any mention of Allura's mother before, yet the woman was coming up so often.

" _It is better to do things right, then quickly_." Allura parroted with a sad smile, making Devine want to ask about the queen's fate, but also not upset the princess anymore then she was already. "Yes. Give the paladins four more Vargas at least. I'll even make us all something nice for breakfast. " She suggested, trying to temp them with food, making a note to find some proper Altean recipes.

" ** _NO!"_** The Alteans shouted in fear, surprising the empath at the sudden dread. "Was the queen... not a good cook?" Devine assumed as they both looked sheepish at their reason for being so fearful.

"No, I would say the last time she tried to cook; she had the pervious paladins out sick for a week." Coran explained as Allura giggled softly. "Yes, Mother told me the story. She just wanted to make Father a little sick with some cookies, but the other Paladin's ended up eating them as well." Allura mused. Devine had to smile at the story, wondering if that was what brought Zarkon and Honerva together, if they weren't already.

**_~Voltron~_ **

Shiro sighed in contentment as he dried his hair with a towel, walking back to his room from the showers. Having enjoyed the scorching hot water running over his body, his prosthetic arm not needing to be removed and handled the water without any problems. He had needed a shower for the longest time, to clean all the dirt, grime, dead skin, and dried blood from his body. All his visible scares had healed rather well, but he couldn't recall how he got many of them. His time in Galra captivity was a big blur and it was painful to remember any of it. He had hurt people with and without his prosthetic arm; the strange colored dried blood washing away from its crevices was evidence of that before the water seemed to purify him with it's comforting heat.

'So c _ute~.'_

Shiro blinked at the sudden voice as he looked down the hall at Devine, who blushed as soon as she noticed he had spotted her. "Enjoy your shower?" She asked, smiling a little at how attractive he looked in baggy black sweat pants, a white tank top with a white towel around his shoulders, steam coming off his skin making him look sinfully hot. However with his white strands of hair looking like a cotton ball on a fluffy black cat, Devine found the look more adorably cute in her mind.

"Yeah, I was just headed off to bed. You?" he asked casually, confused by the cute comment he heard from her. "Checking in on the others, go get some sleep. You're gonna need it for training tomorrow." She told him with a soft smile as the paladin nodded, going into his room as Devine checked on the others, still dreaming away. Unfortunately dreams and sleep where avoiding Shiro, as lay awake with his mind racing with different thoughts and worries, before he heard some familiar sounding foot steps before his door quietly opened. He looked over and saw Devine with a glass of water coming into his room before he could even give her permission to.

"Still awake?" she asked as Shiro gave her a sad smile. "Yeah." He admitted sitting up before she offered him the glass. Giving her a grateful thanks, he downed the whole glass in a few gulps, the water had tasted a little strange but it did it's job cool his heated insides. Shiro was starting to relax as he let his eyes close a little, before he felt fingers gently brushing his hair, opening his eyes suddenly he saw Devine petting his white fringe in childish amusement.

"It's so soft~." She whispered softly before noticing Shiro's sliver eyes looking at her. "Sorry." Devine apologized, bushing as she retracted her hand from his quickly with a small pout. "You must have suffered a lot of stress. That color isn't normal for a human your age to have." She mentioned softly, knowing that humans could get white hair from either extreme stress or age, and Shiro would be 25-26 years old, if she wasn't going by his birthday of February 29.

"I don't remember much of it." Shiro looked at the floor in shame, missing the look of disappointment on the woman's face. "Yeah. All that fighting in the arena could get pretty gruesome." She admitted as Shiro felt shock and fear as he looked at her in disbelief. "I never mentioned I fought in the arena." he responded, his body tensing as Devine bit her lip. She would have to partly lie to him, but he didn't remember her even if when she was so close.

"I've... seen you fight in the arena, before you... lost your arm." She mentioned, looking at the prosthetic arm sadly. "You where a prisoner too?" Shiro asked, concerned and worried as he started to wonder what she was doing in the same place as him.

"No. I was hidden among the Audience with Master Regris." She told him before she felt his anger appear so suddenly. "You where a _slave_?" The paladin growled angrily as Devine paled at what he had assumed she had been to the kind Galra. "No. That's what I call my teachers, I was apprenticing under Master Regris at the time and... I asked him to take me there to see the fights there." She explained urgently, looking away nervously before feeling him calm down from his sudden bout of anger. "I've watched you fight, and I knew you would be a Palladian of Voltron. I believed almost all the stories they told about Volton and the paladins. Master Regris was almost convinced about them too until-" she cut herself off, biting her lip nervously.

"Until?" Shiro prompted gently, watching her turn her head away from him.

"Do you... really not remember me?" She asked unsurely, biting her lip as Shiro looked at her in confusion before frowning. "I don't think I really paid much attention to the audience as much as my opponents." He confessed, wondering why she seemed to think he would remember her from his time as a prisoner. "Should I remember you?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at the young woman, looking at her carefully before she shook her head in dismissal. "It's not important. I can help you get some sleep if you want to give it a try." She suggested, her golden eyes locking with his sliver for a moment, Shiro felt himself relax as he got a good look into them, feeling something warm spread grow inside his chest.

"I don't see why not." he responded almost breathlessly as Devine nodded, gently pushing backwards onto the single, bunk like bed. She fought the temptation to slip into bed with him, as she only kneeled on the floor, her hands where placed over his heart and forehead. Pink and white sparks flickering in contact for a second before stopping completely. "Just relax and take slow deep breaths." Devine told him as she let a soft blue mist seep into Shiro's body, taking calming cool breaths and within seconds he was fast asleep, giving a light snore as sleep finally embraced him.

She suppressed an amused giggle at how cute the paladin looked just sleeping, watching his chest softly rise and fall in a calm rhythm for a few ticks. Blushing as a tempting idea came to her, crushing the thought as she stroked Shiro's white fringe once before getting off the floor. Carefully bending over to plant a soft, innocent little kiss on his forehead before pulling a soft light blue blanket over him. Suppressing her excitement at her small achievement, Devine left with the glass that had a little ' _extra'_ in it to help with any nightmares standing in the way of some well deserved sleep _._

" _Sleep tight, Takashi~."_ She mused softly, before leaving his room reluctantly.

**_~Voltron~_ **

Helping Coran with a few repairs had her exploring the castle as well as being productive. It her something interesting yet important to do while the paladins slept, leaving only the Alteans and her self awake for Arus short night cycle. Finding a few interesting rooms and locked doors before she began browsing threw the massive library for helpful books she could read later, doing a bit of meditation to maintain a stable sanity until she started to explore the sewing room.

Golden eyes sparkled as she ran her fingers over the colorful fabrics in the queen's old sewing room, a whole wall dedicated to nothing but soft, silky, and beautiful fabrics. Numerous drawings of beautiful dresses filled several sketch books along with a few pictures of Allura wearing, the dress that was drawn on the pages. The princess looked so happy wearing each dress, an unrestrained smile on her face as a child that slowly became more fitting of a princess into a demure up turned lips slightly parted to hint at pearly white teeth.

Devine's eyes sparked as she sported other dress styles that didn't seem to fit Allura's taste of long, bright and regal dresses that would suit any princess. Only she found her self loving the short, dark and flowy dresses that wouldn't be out of place on a stage performer or even a dancer. Then the dresses transitioned into more masculine looking suits, spotting a dark purple suit with a lighter diamond shaped pattern along it's edges, instantly falling in love with it. "The guys would look pretty handsome in Altean suits." She giggled, thinking of the suits they would wear that matched their lions before the whole room went red and alarms blared.

"Has it been four Vargas already?" she asked shocked as she looked for something like a clock before she heard Allura's voice over the intercom, a bit too loudly.

_'Everybody up! Zarkon is attacking, we need Voltron NOW!'_

Devine cringed at the volume before she could feel four of the five paladins wake up suddenly with a hit of panic as they rushed to the main deck. With a sigh she left the sewing room to walk into Lance's room, finding him still fast asleep with Pidge's headphones covering his ears.

**_~Voltron~_ **

"Oh, no! Devine has been kidnapped and Allura is dead! Aw, it's horrible! Her head fell off!" Coran yelled into the mic, faking tears as he tried to convince the paladins of their threat."Wait! What? Her severed head is trying to speak to me! What is it, Allura's head? What are your final words?" Coran said, falling to his knees, cradling air as if he actually had the talking served head of Allura. "Coran." Allura called his name, slightly annoyed as four paladins, dressed in their casual clothes, made it to the main deck watching Coran act out his little radio show, unamused. "Oh, yes, Princess, I'm listening." Coran perked up, looking at his princess, oblivious to the paladins in the room, mic still on.

"It's over." Allura told him but Coran kept up with the ruse.

"I know! If only Voltron was formed in time!" The altean whiled before he noticed the present paladins.

"I guess this wasn't an actual attack." Shiro sighed, relived that Zarkon was not at their door step, letting out a tired yawn as he was dressed in his casual clothes like Keith and Pidge, only Hunk was still in pajamas. "It's a good thing, too. It wasn't because it took you... Coran?" Allura scolded, trying to be stern and strong like Devine and Shiro as she looked at Coran, who had a small device ready in his hand. "Seventy-five degrees." Coran reported before realizing something was wrong.

"Oh! Sorry. No, this is a meat thermometer." He said as he realized his error that did not please the princess before she adressed the paladins.

"However long it was, it was too long. You must always be ready to do battle with Zarkon. Look at you! None of you are in uniform! Where are your bayards? Shiro, you're the leader! Your supposed to be the example the other paladins follow, and where is Lance?" Allura asked, crossing her arms over her chest, looking at the four Paladins as Coran's nose twitched.

"This scent? Could it be?" he asked, sniffing around in the air for something.

"What is it Coran?" Allura asked, confused by her aid's sudden interest in a smell as the mustached Altean started to sniff the paladins. "What are you looking for?" Shiro asked as Coran sniffed around Hunk, who looked a little nervous having the Altean trying to smell him.

"Nope. Not here." Coran dismissed Hunk as the source, before moving on to sniff Pidge. Much to the Large Paladin's relief and the smallest paladin's discomfort. "Negatory." The advisor concluded as Pidge let out a relived sigh as Coran's eyes locked onto Keith next. The red paladin slowly backed away from the strange man who just grabbed him before gave a big sniff of his scent, to far into the teen's personal space.

"Oh~! You smell very nice, but no. It's not you eather." Coran confirmed before getting one sniff of Shiro. Pausing as his eyes widen in shock and surprise as he leaned in very closely to the Black paladin, sniffing his chest and up to the white fringe of hair on his forehead.

"It's _YOU_!" Coran accused, pointing at a shocked and confused paladin.

"Coran, what where you sniffing out?" Allura asked, as the Altean looked closely at the black paladin's normally gray eyes that held a very slight tint of blue to them. "A secret mixture that kidnappers use to make their targets go to sleep. I have been trained to sniff it out for Allura's safety and _YOU-_." Coran narrowed his eyes at Shiro who was shocked and confused as he processed the information. "Have it on your breath. Although it was a small dose my sniffer still sniffed it out. " He stated with pride and a puffed out chest.

"So... someone tried to kidnap Shiro?" Pidge asked, looking at the older paladin in confusion as his eyes widen in surprise at the idea."Does that mean there's someone else in the castle?" Hunk asked, confused but was far more tired then worried as he yawned loudly. "No, I think it was Miss Devine who gave it to me." Shiro confessed, remembering the strange tasting water, but before he could ponder her motives, Devine walked in with a tired looking but fully dressed Lance.

"What was all that noise about?" He asked, annoyed to be woken up from his beauty sleep, even if it was by a lovely woman. Devine had been sadistic enough to shock him until he was awake. "Is something wrong?" Devine asked as they all looked at her with wide, disbelieving eyes. Before anyone could speak, Coran grabbed her hands and sniffed them carefully, confirming that the same smell was coming from her. "So it was you Miss Devine." Coran accused, as she looked at them in shocked confusion.

"Am I missing something here?" she asked, not familiar with this event from her original reality. She just decided to try and wake up Lance, and for Shrio to get some decent sleep for the longest time in a while.

"You drugged Shiro?" Keith asked bluntly, looking at her with suspicion.

"W-what!?" she asked, not sure how to respond to the accusation other then shocked, with a little fear and a little embarrassment at being caught so easily. "It was in that water you gave me, wasn't it?" Shrio asked, not looking or feeling mad at all, if anything he seemed grateful and a bit more relaxed then before. Devine nodded not trusting her voice as she tried to process the Paladin's current feelings displayed by his quintessence.

"Is that why you asked to give them more time? So it could wear off?" Allura asked, amazed at the woman's planning and cunning. "Yes. It wouldn't do well if any of them where tried. Aside from Shiro, the others are still in their developmental stages. They need plenty of rest and good nutrition among other things." Devine explained but looked at the younger paladins who were unconvinced of her true intentions.

" _Right~_ so how deep of a sleep does that stuff give you?" Lance asked, looking around with interest. "Oh, very deep. You could handle their bodies however roughly you wanted for a varga with just a teaspoon of the stuff." Coran helpfully explained giving his eye brows a little wiggle. Devine could feel what some of them where thinking, making her and Shiro blush red at the implication as she also let off pink sparks.

"Embarrassment?" Keith muttered to himself before Allura spoke up to get their attention again.

"Regardless. Miss Devine, Coran and myself have been up for hours getting the castle back in working order. So we had to run a test on alarms and decided to test you as well. Guess which one failed." she added with disappointment heavy in her voice and quintessence.

"Hey!" Hunk shouted before yawning tiredly.

"You got to sleep for 10,000 years, man. Monday night, I was on Earth. Now, I've flown through space in a yellow cat mech, fought some evil purple alien named Sendak, and eaten goo in some weird old castle. That's a lot to process in, uh... I don't know. What day is today?" He asked, disoriented as he tried to think about the days of the week. "It's the third quintant of the Spicolian movement. Hump day!" Coran explained happily with a wide smile on his face despite being unhelpful. Devine giggling as he said the phrase she was used to a silly camel saying in old commercials.

"It's a lot to process." Hunk's shoulders slouched, mentally exhausted from his experience so far. _'Hopefully meeting Shay will light a fire in him.'_ Devine mused with a small smile, finding the two to be a cute couple. Then her eyes wondered up to the triangle drone orbiting around Pidge, looking at it worriedly.

"You must understand the stakes of our mission." Allura voiced grimly, a holographic screen showed up around them. "Over the last 10,000 years, the Castle picked up distress beacons from the following locations." A holographic universe showed them a small fraction of planets in blue, with the rest in red, showing where Zarkon's Empire had spread like an unstoppable force without Voltron or anyone else to stop him.

"It's safe to assume Zarkon has conquered almost the entire known universe." Allura looked at all the red grimly, before she turned the map to show the further reaches of the universe, where there was a familiar blue planet and solar system sat just outside Zarkon's reach. "Earth is here, and the chances of a Galra attacking and your planet is inevitable." Allura looked at the small blue planet that was home to billions of humans and many more creatures.

"Oh no." Hunk paled, Devine could feel his fear as she clenched her fists, yellow sparks arching around them as she bit her lip to keep herself from worrying them anymore then they already where.

"Exactly." Allura nodded. "Our mission is to free all those planets. Coran and I are getting ready to leave Arus. During that time, you have to learn to form Voltron, so we can begin the fight ageists Zarkon." She told them, looking at Devine who wrapped her arms around her middle, shivering. "The Princess is right." Shiro agreed, trying to give off good emotions for Devine, who looked terrified enough for all of them. "Let's get to our lions and start training." he tried to encourage before Pidge spoke up. "Wait! I wanna talk to the prisoners we rescued from the Galra ship." The smallest paladin asked their leader, looking desperate. "Ah! Negative, Number five! I have you ranked by height, okay?" Coran piped up, spreading his arms to show off Pidge's height. "The prisoners need to remain in the cryo-replenishers until tomorrow."

"That's right. No more distractions, get to your lions." Allura commanded them as the other Paladins left, Keith looking at Devine unsurely before leaving as Shiro approached her carefully. "Miss Devine? Are you alright?" he asked seeing the rainbow of sparks that come off her body. _'Yellow is fear, White is Excitement, gray is anger...'_ Shiro recalled the colors with how she seemed to feel at the time, before he noticed red and black sparks in the mix.

Devine let out a slow breath before she responded to him uneasily.

"I-I'm fine, I knew a lot of creatures from some of those planets... I couldn't help them very much." she admitted, shyly and flinched as she felt a hand on her shoulder, only relaxing when she noticed it was just Shiro, giving off his emotion of concern to her. It felt so comforting; she wanted to drown in it for a little bit as she missed the Voltron leader's words of thanks and assurance, leaving her in a light daze on the main deck.

**_~Voltron~_ **

"Should someone go in after him?" Lance asked, as four of the five lions arrived on the bridge to the castle once they left their hangar bays, waiting for Hunk and Topaz to come out of the castel so that they could get their training over with.

"Hi, guys. Sorry, everybody." Hunk apologized sheepishly as he flew Topaz onto the bridge with the others. "Seriously, though, can't they park these things, like, a little closer to the bridge?" he asked, not impressed with the over the top _quick way_ to the lions. "I mean Miss Devine beat us to the lions, and she _walked_!" he pointed out, not amused that the woman had beaten them all to the hanger by simply walking and taking the elevator, she was even conversing with Topaz, the yellow lion before Hunk finally got to the hanger, waiting with his speeder bike that had yet to enter the lion.

 _"We can sort that out later Hunk, right now practice on your Voltron formation."_ Devine spoke up from her position above the entrance to black lion's hanger on the main deck, since it's display was the only one she could read clearly enough, unlike with the others. "She's right, guys. Let's just fly in tight formation until we're totally in sync." Shiro ordered, glad Devine was better as the lions ran and flew in formation up in the sky. "Feel the bond with your lion, and your fellow pilots. Five will become one unit and you will have form Voltron!" Allura encouraged, her face appearing on their screen in the lions.

" **Yeah!** " Everyone cheered together as they in sync in the sky, sprits flying s high as their lions.

_**~Voltron~** _

" **Yeah!** " The group cheered, less enthusiastic as they flew the other way, trying to from Voltron, Devine was conflicted on helping them before opening one of the books she got form the castle library.

_**~Voltron~** _

" **Yeah**." Everyone said as they flew another way, still in formation but Devine could see Keith and Lance where starting to lag behind before she went back to the book.

_**~Voltron~** _

" **Yay**." Everyone said weakly as they flew another way, Devine reading a cook book she had gotten from the library for this moment, along with a pleasantly convenient, Altean-Galra dictionary to help her translate.

_**~Voltron~** _

" _Whoo!..._ Am I the only one who's still pretending to be excited?" Hunk asked, noticing he was the only one giving a response to their now sloppy formation flying. "Clearly, this isn't working. Let's set down for a little bit." Shiro voiced, getting frustrated with the lack of progress. "Miss Devine?" he called her name as ember eyes blinked and looked up from the old books as she appeared on his screen. "Yes?" she questioned, mostly lazing about in the main control room, monitoring the paladins as Allura was fixing something from her station. "Got any ideas on what we are doing wrong. Besides the princess and Coran, you seem to know the most about Voltron." He asked, as Devine smiled at being asked for help.

"Well just flying in formation alone isn't gonna cut it. You guys have to be in sync-"

"We are in sync!" Lance complained, cutting her off.

"Then why no Voltron? Look. What I'm saying is that _physically_ being in sync alone isn't gonna from Voltron. You have to have your minds and hearts linked together as well." She told them as she put a hand over her heart. "It's almost like a Waltz." She explained only to get groans for the younger paladins.

"I have two left feet." Hunk admitted shamefully.

"I passed on dance classes." Pidge waved it off.

"I just don't like dancing." Keith divulged with disinterest.

"Why a Waltz?" Lance asked with a disappointed pout.

Shiro sighed as Devine shook her head at their little group. "It doesn't have to be a Waltz. Most music just follows one rhythm, so let's all pick a song together so we can get all of you in sync." She asked, opening a pandora's box as they argued about what song to follow.

_**~Voltron~** _

"Well that didn't work." Devine pouted, disappointed they still didn't from Voltron, but she expected something to go wrong with her idea in the first place. "Maybe we should be building Voltron from the ground up." Keith suggested, giving up on the music idea after not being able to pick a song."What do you mean?" Shiro questioned, willing for more solutions to their problem."I mean, let's try literally building Voltron, like, stacking on top of each other." Keith explained, confusing the others.

"Like a cheerleader pyramid?" Lance questioned, thinking of girls in skirts stacking on top of one another.

"You got a better idea?" Keith snapped back.

"It's worth a shot." Devine mused, eger to see the rest of their funny ideas as the image of the paladins in cheer uniforms came to mind. ' _I wonder if I can get them into_ ** _those_** _uniforms.'_ She grinned wickedly as she watched them try and stack the lions, and fail as Topaz was on top of Obsidian, Shiro also noticed the added weight to his lion.

"Hunk, what are you doing?" Shiro asked, unamused by the extra weight on his lion, and neither was she.

"What do you mean?" Hunk questioned innocently. "You're supposed to be the leg over there." Shiro deadpanned while pointing to the left of Sapphire, where Hunk should be with Topaz. "What? No. No, no, no. I'm pretty sure that when we did it last time, I was the head. Right?" Hunk asked, innocently as Devine held back a chuckle.

"You yelled, _'I'm a leg'_!" Lance argued, being on the bottom.

"Yeah, I was yelling a lot of things." Hunk tried to defend himself.

"Shiro's the head." Keith corrected as Hunk pouted.

"All the time?" he asked, a little deflated.

"Let's just try it my way for now." Shiro replied, feeling mentally exhausted already.

"Okay, but next time I call head." Hunk declared, as Devine shook with amusement as they rearranged. Sapphire and Topaz where on the bottom to form the legs, Ruby and Peridot on top of them before Obsidian lowered onto their backs carefully. "Okay. Arms, legs, and I'll form the head. Feel the bonds with your lions. Channel your energy into forming Voltron. Focus... Focus..." Shiro encouraged as he tried to focus on forming Voltron like the others.

There was just wind and birds for a moment before Devine busted out laughing, startling them with the sudden noise and making the lions fall into a heap on the ground. "Devine! What's wrong!?" Shiro asked, worried by the sudden outburst as he pulled up the screen to see the laughing woman. "S-s-sorry I-I can't h-h-help it! AGH!" she laughed, amused by the lion pile but also something was crawling around her clothes. Slowly, a blue, angry looking mouse popped up over her shoulder, then a pink on top her head, a small blue one from her sleeve, and then a big yellow one from inside her jacket collar.

"Lucky Rat." Lance muttered as Devine calmed down from the mice climbing inside her clothes. "Well I guess they wanted to say hello." She mused pulling out the yellow mouse form her shirt, and giving it a gentle pet on its head. "Why was this so much easier before?" Lance whined as he slouched in his chair, the other paladins wondering something similar.

"Let's take a break." Shiro sighed loudly, strangely feeling a little peeved at the mice for invading Devine's clothes with a light blush on his cheeks.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I may be able to help." Allura appeared on screen, and Devine looked worried, as the mice gathered on her shoulders. "Yesterday, you weren't able to form Voltron until you were in the heat of battle."

"Yeah, I guess." Keith agreed, not knowing where the princess was going.

' _Sorry Shiro.'_ Devine thought as the Black Paladin blinked in confusion as he could have sworn he heard Devine's voice in his head."Perfect! Because I need to run a diagnostic test on all of the Castle's defenses. This should help!" Allura added with glee activating the castle's barrier before it started shooting lasers at the lions. The Paladins screaming while trying to avoid the lasers. "Okay, whoa, whoa!" Lance yelled as he and Sapphire dogged the rapid firing lasers. "Allura, what are you doing?!" Keith exclaimed and her and Ruby evaded the shots with some difficulty. "Running a diagnostic test on the Castle defenses and inspiring you! I believe in you, Paladins! Let fear be your guide! Form Voltron!" Allura cheered thinking she was doing them some good, as Devine pet the mice in worry, not fully agreeing with the Princess's method of harsh motivation.

"Forget this! I'm heading back to the Castle!" Lance yelled, Sapphire making her way to the castle only to run head first into the castle barrier and be bounce back painfully. "Please stop! Please! Have mercy on us!" Hunk yelled as Topaz was slower and bigger than the rest, yet having the thickest armor. "You think Zarkon is going to have mercy on you? He's probably on his way right now to destroy us all!" Allura declared angrily before she walked away from the console with a final command.

" _Auto-lock-on engaged._ " A computerized voice announced, Devine could feel everyone's panic and dread before Allura turned to her. "Now. What are these Earth snacks you will be preparing? The mice and I are very interested in these _muffins_." the princess asked, her light blue eyes sparking with interest as the mice squeaked in agreement.

_**~Voltron~** _

Devine was in the kitchen, setting down four _'space muffins'_ for the small mice, who happily dug into the tasty smelling treat. After politely waiting for them to cool down from baking inside of the Altean equivalent of an oven. Devine set aside a water dish and some fruit, chopped down into small pieces for the mice to nibble on. She smiled at the rodents fondly, listening to their genuinely happy squeaks as they ate. It was one of the reasons she preferred animals over most _'intelligent'_ creatures, they always expressed their true emotions, unless badly hurt, they would either like you or hate you, no in-between or 50 shades of gray.

Letting out a relived sigh, she picked up two trays, one topped neatly with warm muffins, and the other had several glasses of mixed fruit smoothies, topped with cute little umbrellas and straws. Walking out of the kitchen and into what could be dubbed as, the Living room, where four of the five paladins where lounging around after dogging the castle's auto locked lasers for a few hours, looking defeated and tired as they didn't respond to her entrance.

"Who wants a little pick me up?" Devine asked, slightly amused as they all looked up at her quickly, seeing the treats as if they where sent from some divine realm. "Are... are those _muffins_?" Hunk asked, sniffing the air excitedly as Devine walked into the middle of where they where lounging, presenting the trays proudly. "Sure are. Made with a super secret family recipe, and some smoothies made with the native fruits of Arus, toped with little umbrellas. Just to give them a more, tropical feel." Devine mussed as they all took a drink and muffin before eagerly devouring them.

"Don't eat them to fast. You guys still have training, and doing it on a full stomach isn't a very good idea." She warned them as the young paladins happily ate the new, yet familiar confections. "These are really _divine_ ~. Just like the angel who made them." Lance flirted as he drank his smoothie, feeling lighter and energized form the thoughtful snack. Devine smiled softly as she felt their sprits lift with the simple treat.

 _'There goes the carrot, and now for the stick.'_ She thought, just before the Alteans entered the room.

"Are we at full power on condenser number five yet?" Allura questioned as she walked in, the paladins mood quickly souring. "No, still just 84 percent." Coran responded before the princess noticed the younger paladins in the room. "You did it! You formed Voltron!" Allura smiled happily as she saw them, Devine still feeling nervousness coming from the princess. "No. The shooting stopped and the particle barrier shut down, so we just flew in." Keith informed her, making her sprits fall.

"What!?" The princess snapped angrily as Devine rose her hand in admittance.

"I turned them off. We don't need the Castle destroying the Lions, or the Lions destroying the castle." She reasoned before offering Coran his own drink and a muffin which he curiously tried the unfamiliar treat. "Besides, Coran said he needed to test the fire suppressors, he couldn't very well do that while the Castel is firing away at moving targets." She pointed out as the mustached Altean finished the last of his muffin. "She does have a point princess." Coran agreed, making Allura feel hurt and a little betrayed by her _trusted_ advisor siding with the older woman that no one really knew well. Yet she seemed to be able to take command from the royal Altean princess almost as easily as-

"What are you guys doing in here?" Shiro asked as he came into the room, looking disappointed and frustrated about something. "We're not done yet and our break is over." He barked at the younger paladins who looked away in shame as Allura's mood brightened with the black paladin on her side. "Shiro's right, _**ALL**_ of you should be training." Allura enforced as she glared at Devine, feeling more confident in her self before the woman shook her head in disagreement.

' _To much stick.'_ Devine thought before looking pleadingly at the dissatisfied princess.

"Allura. Shiro and I know firsthand how cruel the Galra can be, the others haven't seen even a sliver of it yet. I don't know how they operated on Earth, but winning a war with a massive alien empire is not even in their dreams, except for Keith and even then he dreams of fighting an honorable Zarkon that doesn't use any dirty tricks." She admitted, making Keith blush as the others looked at him with mild interest.

Devine carefully approached Shiro, with a soft pleading smile on her lips that made him tense and his heart beat a bit faster as she stopped at arms length away from him. "Shiro, if we want to take down Zarkon, we need to do things right, not quickly." she explained, Allura feeling shame as she heard her mother's phrase being used against her decisions again. "Their tired, and so are you mentally. Let rest be your ally. You could even think of it more like a bonding break to work on getting closer as a team." she suggested, reaching out to him with her left hand and placing it over the Black Voltron insignia, instead of his unprotected face. Devine had planed to use her strange gift to influence him, before stopping herself as Shiro's shoulders relaxed without the use of her powers. The older paladin letting out a slow breath as he relaxed, processing her words carefully.

"I-your right, but what are those?" Shiro asked looking at the drinks curiously, as she smiled a little. "Fruit smoothies, made from the local fruits, and muffins made with-" She started but blinked in confusion at seeing an empty tray of crumbs, two Alteans and Hunk being the closest to it. "These are delicious!" Allua praised in surprise as she polished off her fourth muffin, Coran brushing out the crumbs in his mustache. Leaving Hunk was the only one who looked bashful at getting caught eating the last muffin.

Shiro pouted in disappointment before Devine suppressed a chuckle, finding it amusing that Allura liked a Galra recipe. "Don't worry, I made more. I'll just go check to see if the mice left them alone." She mused intending to walk to the kitchen as Shiro moved to follow her, only to have her pick up a glass hand it to him with a soft smile. "You, sit down and rest. Bond with your team, you're their leader but that doesn't mean you can't be their friend too." She told him, leaving the room before he could respond. Shiro watched her leave, being a little stunned in place by her subjection as the other paladins watched him staring at retreating her back.

"I hate to see Miss Devine leave, but I'm starting to love watching her walk away." Lance mussed as he watched the woman leave with mild interest.

" _Lance_!" Shiro hissed sternly, giving the blue paladin a stern glare before Devine reappeared with a pleased smile and a tray of muffins, with the Altean mice on her shoulders looking proud of themselves. "Good news! They where little sweet hearts and left the rest alone." She announced before setting the tray down and picking up her own drink to help them bond.

_**~Voltron~** _

"Alright Paladins, your code demands that you put the safety of your teammates, and the Princess, before your own. A swarm of drowns are about to attack, get ready!" Coran explained as he was in the observation room above the large, almost arena like training room. "I can defend myself Coran. I'm not a _princess_." Devine argued, standing in the center of the Paladin's formation, dressed in the purple and white suit that once belonged to the Galra Empress. half a dozen small orbs appeared and circled around them. "Don't worry _princess_ ; we'll take care of these drones in no time." Lance boasted confidently, tossing a smirk over his shoulder at Devine, making the older woman scowl at the pet name he used, but she said not thing to the young paladin.

"It's up to each of you to do everything you can to protect the other members of your team." Coran instructed as shields appeared in the Paladin's hands. "Wait, wait, wait. What's going on? Whoa. Did you guys get one of these?" Hunk asked, looking at his little shield that was only the size and length of his arm. "Get ready, hold your ground." Shiro ordered as a drone fired at Hunk, who let out a yelp before narrowly dogging it, the laser about to hit Devine before she summoned her own shield to block it.

"I'll just assume this suit doesn't have its own shield, _Coran_." She growled unhappily as she used a small, shield that looked like a transparent white diamond, instead of the teal rectangular shield the Paladins had.

"Protect your teammates or no one will be there to protect you!" Coran shouted as Hunk dunked behind Devine as they traded spots, before she summoned another shield for added protection. "Come on now. Not even Miss Devine can protect you forever." Coran voiced as a hole in the floor opened just under her feet, caught off guard Devine started to float in the air as she protected the paladins around her.

 _ **"CORAN!"**_ she yelled loudly in annoyance, the mustached Altean pouting at his failed plan of separating the female from the paladins, so instead he opened up a hole under the cowering Hunk. "Agh!" The yellow Paladin screamed, scared as he vanished into the floor.

"Hunk!" Pidge cried out, becoming distracted as a laser managed to hit them, and the green paladin was sucked into a hole in the floor as well.

"Time to increase intensity!" Coran yelled as he had the drones speed up around the group and unleashing a rapid fire of lasers as those remaining nearly pressed their backs together. "You keeping up over there, Keith?" Lance asked, feeling confident as he had Devine and Shiro protecting his sides and Keith at his back. "Yeah, just concentrate on keeping me safe." Keith responded as he deflected the lasers coming at them, making Lance scoff. "Me? I own this drill. You're the one who needs to concentr- _ate_!" Lance screamed as the drones went low to the floor, a laser almost hit his unprotected leg before the Cuban boy pulled it out of harm's way, which allowed a drone to hit Keith's unguarded back. A hole appeared under the red paladin disappeared into the floor, leaving Lance's back unguarded, being the next to get hit and fall into the mysterious hole in the floor.

Coran's face met his palm as he let out a tired groan, growing frustrated with the new paladins failing the simple training exercises. Leaving their leader and their self proclaimed, liaison, to deal with the drones' onslaught.

Shiro and Devine pressed their backs together being the only ones left standing in the room. "Leave no room for attack." Shiro yelled over the rapid firing of lasers as Devine summoned more shields to protect their sides, concentrating on maintaining several at a time as they were hit repeatedly. The drones then blurred into a spinning ring around them, firing lasers almost continuously

at the pair. "How many of those shields can you make?" the paladin asked, glancing at the small shields briefly before getting a response. "Just jump and we'll see." She suggested, concentrating on the six drones, mentally seeing their attack pattern and speed, neither of them noticing the soft glow in their eyes.

 _'JUMP!'_ Devine thought just as Shiro made a powerful leap into the air, leaving the woman unguarded for a fraction of a second. The woman managed to throw several white shards at the drones, piercing right threw their targets leaving small holes that ran right threw the Altean machines. Just as Shiro landed on his feet, the drones fell uselessly to the floor, the paladin looking at the destroyed drones with a satisfied smirk, one that Devine unknowingly mirrored despite not even looking at him.

"Wow! Beautiful work, Miss Devine, and that was some good thinking on your part Number one. You two are quite accomplished. Now, lets move on to the next exorcise." Coran praised as he watched the two closely, having noticed something strange between the two as they worked together.

_**~Voltron~** _

Lance stood alone on the training room floor, in the middle of a simple looking maze that had invisible walls as the other paladins where up in the observation room watching. "To form Voltron, you must trust in each other. This ancient paladin maze will teach you all that trust. Your teammate can see the walls, but you cannot. So, listen carefully. If you touch the walls, you'll get a slight shock." Coran explained as they watched, Devine knowing that it would not go over well for Lance, and the other to a lesser degree possibly.

"Okay. Who's guiding me through?" Lance asked before Keith spoke up from observing the maze displayed before him on screen. "Take two steps forward." Keith instructed over the mic and Lance was not happy to hear the red paladin's voice. "Oh, no. Not Keith! Why does he get to be the man on the mic?" Lance complained as he looked up at him up on the deck. "Now, just sit tight. You'll get your turn." Coran assured as Keith repeated himself a bit more annoyed. "Like I said, take two steps forward, turn right, and take three steps that direction." He instructed. Lance grumbled in complaint but turned right instead taking two steps forward, immediately he got shocked by the invisible wall.

"Coran! That was not a slight shock! Devine's shocks didn't even hurt this bad!" Lance complained as he glared accusingly at Keith. "And you did that on purpose!"

"You're not listening." Keith shot back, eye twitching in annoyance. "You said, turn right." Lance repeated part of the instructions. "Before that, I said, Take two steps forward." Keith repeated as Lance frowned and walked forward, only to be shocked again. "That's it! We're switching places right now!" Lance yelled angrily as he pointed up at Keith as the other's watched Lance get shocked even more as he tried to make it out of the maze by himself.

"Lance isn't very good with directions is he?" Devine asked worriedly as Hunk and Pidge shook their heads in confirmation.

_**~Voltron~** _

After they finally got Lance through the maze, Pidge was next, guided by Hunk, Devine giving the large paladin a little encouragement to get the green paladin safely through. Hunk was next to enter the maze, guided by Lance, and the yellow paladin had made it out with only getting shocked three times thanks to his friends directions. Shiro got through the maze the quickest with Pidge guiding him safely threw. Leaving Keith to be instructed by Devine, much to Lance's disappointment as the red paladin made it out safely, but not as quickly as Shiro and Pidge, having hesitated slightly at the strange woman's instructions.

Coran then instructed Devine to enter the maze, confusing the woman slightly.

"Coran, why am I down here?" she asked, waiting as the maze rearranged around her so that none of them could just memorize the way out. "Well you are a part of this team Miss Devine. You also seem to have quite the bond with each of the lions. Only fair you do this exorcise as well." He pointed out as Shiro studied the layout of the new maze. "Don't worry Miss Devine; I'll lead you in the right direction." Shiro's voice suddenly entered her ears, making the woman forget her retort as she blushed from hearing his alluring voice.

"S-sure. Lead the way then." Devine responded calmly, trying not to get distracted from the task a hand. "Take two steps to your left then go four steps forward." The black paladin instructed as Devine followed his instructions obediently, willing to complete the pointless exorcise that wouldn't help with the formation of Voltron. Shiro could already lead and she was willing to follow his commands, despite not being a paladin or under his command.

 _'She was hiding that figure?'_ Devine was slightly confused as she heard Shiro's voice in her mind. Processing the words made her blush a deeper pink, the tight purple and white Altean suite had exposed her thick hourglass figure, and since she didn't have her baggy jacket to hide it, she just wrapped her arms around her middle nervously. ' _Please don't look at me.'_ she pleaded, slightly uncomfortable with the leader taking in her form, confusing the Black paladin who hard her plea in his mind rather then the communicator in his ear.

"Miss Devine, are you alright?" He asked, a bit concerned about hearing her voice in his head again, watching as she shifted uneasily down below. "Yeah. Where to next?" she asked, mentally cringing at a possible flaw Shiro could have seen in her to prompt the question in the first place.

"Take five steps right, then four left." He instructed, unsure of her response as he watched her calmly walk threw the maze, no hesitation in her steps, trusting his directions in a way that unnerved the black paladin. "Now just two steps to your right and then-" Shiro was saying into her ear but in her mind she heard slightly different directions.

 _ **'Bend over for me~.'**_ She heard Shiro's voice purr seductively in her mind, producing a lust inducing scene:

_She was dressed in a tiny, frilly maid's uniform that barely covered her large chest, and a skirt so short it gave sinful peeks of her plump ass. Her lips, painted blood red, stretched into a smile as she bent over obediently at his command, white gloved hands on her sheer white stockings that squeezed her thick thighs tight. The short skirt further exposing her round cheeks and the red silk panties that teasingly hid her cunt, but a darkened wet spot exposed her excited arousal to the man behind her._

_Shiro was dressed in a devilishly handsome black suit, the jacket draped over his broad shoulders, the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up past his elbow,_ _a ridding crop in his left hand, tapping it ageist's the palm of the prosthetic once. A sinfully gorgeous smirk bloomed across his face as he raised the crop up to his shoulder, before quickly brining it down hard on her plump cheeks with a satisfyingly loud slap._

"Sorry! W-what was that?" Devine nearly shrieked her question, jumping out of her daze as she restrained herself from feeling her backside for the sting of the crop. Blushing a deep red under the purple and white helmet, trying to will away the heat of desire that pleased her inner beast into awaking. Shiro on the other hand, was struck speechless by the same image that appeared in his mind, blushing a deep red as his mouth hung open in shock and confusion.

"Shiro? Shiro? Are you alright?" Keith asked as he noticed his mentor go rigid for some reason, Coran carefully observing the older Paladin as he recover from his sudden shock, face still very red.

"Yeah! Um? Miss Devine, take two steps to your right and then another... right?" He responded unsurely as something in his mind brought up a memory.

_Shiro was panting heavily, his naked and scared body flushed pink as he laid back against a familiar wall. His legs spread apart with his member hard and erect with the tip dripping precum down its length._

_A pair of glowing golden eyes looked up at him from between his legs, his cock disappearing into a warm, soft mouth with pointed teeth gently scraping at the sensitive  cock it greedily devoured. His hands, both still flesh and bone grasped at soft long strands, before his head thrown back as he cried out in pleasure, releasing his cum deep inside the warm mouth._

_'NO! This isn't 50 Shades of Gray! Now Focus!'_

Shiro snapped out of the memory, startled as he heard Devine's voice yelling loudly inside his head, vanquishing the odd image just in time to see her follow his directions. Leading her into a wall that sparked on contact, like the first time Lance run into it.

"Did I... just hit a wall?" she asked, confused as the woman proceeded to pat the invisible wall in several places, getting _'shocked'_ every time but going unaffected even as the sparks ran through the suit and into her body harmlessly. "I didn't think Lance would be that big of a baby. I barely feel a thing." She retorted as she kept her hand on the invisible wall for several ticks.

"Hey! It really hurt!" Lance cried out in his defense, surprised the woman was handling the electrified walls as if it was nothing. "I'm with Lance, those things didn't tickle me either." Hunk added, pouting in confusion.

"What's the voltage going through the walls now Coran?" Pidge asked, curious as the Altean was slightly impressed as he checked the voltage. "Same as any of you, but that's no surprise. Alteans are a very resilient race; you can't hurt us that easily!" Coran boasted proudly as Shiro refocused on the maze.

"Sorry, I meant to say _left_ , and then you should be out of the maze." Shiro corrected, Devine following his directions obediently and escaping the maze with no more trouble.

"Excellent work you two. Next time Number one, try not to get distracted by her Altean beauty." Coran smirked at Shiro, giving the paladin a knowing wink. "I say it's a nice distraction. Who knew she was hiding that under that emo jacket! It completely hid that gorgeous time piece." Lance piped in as Devine became uneasy from the well-meant praise.

"I-i need to take this suit off now." She told them hurriedly before nearly running out of the training room as the paladin's watched her flee the room in confusion.

"Does she not like complements or something?" Hunk asked, having noticed the altean woman’s discomfort.

"She's just being shy and innocent little maiden. Besides the princess, she is a beautiful Altean female surrounded by strong, handsome, young men." Coran explained, flexing his muscles with pride. "Not to mention it's unheard of for any Altean to not be engaged or even married at her age." He told them sagely, as they looked at the Altean in confusion. "Then what about you?" Keith asked, damping Coran's mood as he huffed. "I am married to my work. The castle does not take care of itself completely you know." he explained, not showing how the innocent comment had burned his pride.

"I'll go check on her. Make sure she's alright." Shiro offered, walking out of the observation deck, Lance about to eagerly follow him before Coran stopped him, a worried smile hidden under his orange mustache.

_**~Voltron~** _

_"WHAT THE HELL!"_ Devine yelled in anger as she nearly ripped off the helmet from her head, not caring about her messy hair since she was alone, letting the helmet drop to the floor carelessly in a desperate attempt to get the suite off her burring skin that was alight with white and pink sparks, puffs of red mist coming out of her mouth. Getting the suit off down around her waist, her body was exposed to the cool air, only a black and purple sports bra like garment covering her chest, her heated skin flushing at the sudden temperature change as she sighed heavily in relief. "Why did I think of those things? We were just training and- ** _Augh_!** I probably need another good fucking." she growled in frustration, her hormones roaring loudly, demanding to be followed and satisfied by one of the most tempting prospect in the castle.

"W-what!?" Came Shiro's voice, sounding confused and shocked from the door way. Devine froze in shocked horror, her neck audibly snapped to look behind her. A blushing, wide eyed Shiro who had just walked into the room, the blush deepen as they both realized she was half naked. "DON'T LOOK!" Devine yelled fearfully as she tried to cover herself with her arms and legs, curling into a ball in the air as Shrio quickly turned around to make himself stop staring at her scared upper body. Seeing what almost looked like redish-pink scales covering her upper back under her top, but he had also noticed the strange white stripe like scars on her sides and hips.

"S-sorry! I was just making sure you where alright. You ran out of pretty quickly and..." Shiro trailed off, unsure how to ask about what he thought heard her say. "I'm fine, the imprint on this suite was just getting to me." she told him, it was slightly true after all, seeing small glimmers of what could be a space version of Beauty and the Beast, minus the Stockholm syndrome of course.

"Was it really that strong?" he asked, a little curious about her strange powers and its effects. "I was wearing the whole suit, so... it was a little over whelming." She admitted as Shiro chuckled. "Yeah, I guess you don't find me that attractive." He mused, not seeing her eyes widen in disbelief at his words. "N-no. I find you very attractive." she admitted to quietly for the paladin to hear her. ' _I just can't do anything about it.'_ She thought with a tired sigh.

"Why not?" he asked, surprising the woman who thought he hadn't heard her. "I'm... really not supposed to be here, but I wanted to be one of the first to see Voltron from in 10,000 years. Getting to attached to any of you is... _was_ not a good idea. I'll eventually leave to work towards my own goals." She admitted, biting her lip as she thought about his time in the Galra arena, how she had gotten so _close_ to him in that tiny dark cell. How they _bonded_ before his escape to Earth. Yet, that time was locked away deep in his subconscious, where it would possibly never come out just to preserve what little sanity he had left.

' _I messed up.'_ Devine thought sadly, as Shiro carefully took in the information she had admitted, thinking. Trying to remember what happened before his return, several heavily blurred images entered his mind but he shook his head once it became painful to remember.

"That doesn't matter. You're here now and we haven't been able to form Vol... tron..." Shiro trailed off as he turned to look at her back, getting a better look at her back, the _'scales'_ changing color from the redish-pink to yellow, to green, to blue, and then purple, looking like it a rainbow was embedded into her back. He looked down at the emblem on his chest and then at the wing pattern on her back as an idea struck him.

"I think I have an idea. You've piloted Ruby before right?" he asked, a spark of interest, Devine's golden eyes blinked as she shyly looked at him threw some stray strands of her white hair, giving him a hesitant nod as he stared at her for a tick to long.

 _'That's kinda cute.'_ Shiro mussed with a soft smile before Devine eyes widen in shock, her face glowing bright red as she had not seen the Paladin's lips move to speak. Shiro's voice was unmistakable to her sharp ears, her mind summoning plausible explanations before realizing that _Josh Keaton_ couldn't possibly be in space with them, but the Black lion was.

 _"OBSIDIAN!"_ Devine yelled suddenly in realization as smokey gray sparks arched around her body, startling and confusing the black paladin who couldn't hear the black lion's teasing remarks and amused cackles.

_**~Voltron~** _

The Lions where lined up outside the castle once again, Peridot, Obsidian, Sapphire, Ruby and Topaz all facing the desolate landscape they had created during their training.

"Was this place like this before we came here?" Hunk asked nervously from behind Devine, who had changed into her normal clothes, including her black jacket. Sitting in his seat onboard the yellow lion she had named Topaz, doing something on the screens he couldn't understand because of the unfamiliar, alien characters on display. "No. You guys plowed through a lot of trees, trampled grass, and scared off quite a few of the locals during training." She told him, smiling at the image of the far off trees. A yellow grid was overlaid onto the compacted ground, Topaz helping her find where the dirt needed to be loosened to allow anything to grow there again.

"So... how is letting Devine pilot our lions gonna help us from Voltron? Not that I'm complaining or anything." Lance admitted, excited to eventually be alone with a beautiful woman in his lion for a bit. "She's piloted Ruby before, and she can talk to our lions. Maybe it's her connection that will help us." Shiro pointed out; still confused by the earlier argument she had with his lion alone in the hanger. If he hadn't known better, he would think she was crazy, scolding Obsidian for something Devine assured him wasn't going to happen again... hopefully.

"It's worth a shot, and while I'm at it, we can give back to Arus for its great service." Devine suggested as she firmly grabbed the controls for Topaz, who sounded like Hunk when she gave the lion mecha a playful boop on the nose.

 **'** _ **This is so exciting! Can we show my paladin my cannon? Oh! And my claws?'**_ Topaz asked excitedly. Devine chuckled at the yellow lion's eagerness to bond more with his/her paladin, who was looking confused by the woman's amusement of the lion noises he was hearing. "Sure, Topaz. I'm up for showing them a little teaser trailer for all of your abilities. Will that alright with everyone?" she asked, getting confused looks form the paladins as they appeared on Topaz's screen.

 _"YES!"_ Pidge yelled, eagerly bouncing inside Peridot, the other Lions purred in agreement, happy and excited at being able to show off to their new paladins.

"How about you, Hunk?" She asked as Hunk looked unsure of what to really say. "Um? yeah, go for it." He frowned before they took off, Hunk grabbing onto the pilot chair fearfully as the back of his left hand made contact with the woman's left shoulder, turning the lion noises into words.

 **'** _**Don't be scared. You will always be my precious paladin~.'** _

"Huh?" Hunk asked, confused as he looked at the woman who didn't look like she said anything as she concentrated on piloting the Yellow lion as if it was second nature to her, and it seemed like lion mecha was...purring? Devine started Topaz into a steady run across the landscape, her paws slamming and scraping across the surface to break up the dirt before the claws came out, plowing through the compacted dirt to stop the momentum Topaz had built up running, doing it several more times before its tail whipped the ground, letting out a startling thunder crack as it hit the hard layer of rocks just below the dirt.

"What was that!" Hunk asked, startled as he looked around for the cause on the monitors, seeing only what looked like birds and other animals fleeing the forest in fear, placing a hand on Devine's shoulder before he heard her voice inside his head.

_**'Sorry, that was me.'** _

The large paladin looked at the woman who noticed his confusion.

"That was Topaz speaking to you, I just act as a sort of translator for the lions. We needed to scare the wildlife a bit before we pull out a few trees, so Ruby doesn't cause any unnecessary damage." She explained to him as she had Topaz up root a few trees from the dense forest, almost carelessly chucking them across the barren landscape closer to the castle.

"Miss Devine? What are you doing?" Hunk asked as he watched the large lion carefully walk threw the dense forest, but then carelessly up root a random tree before tossing it. "Pruning the forest and creating a natural fire barrier so Ruby can safely lite it up as much as she wants." She informed him as Topaz uprooted one large tree and tossed it far away, just a few feet from the other lions.

"And... done. Want to see her weapon now?" Devine asked in amusement, Hunk hearing the lion speak up eagerly.

_**'Yes! Yes! Stick it in! Please my paladin, stick it in~!'** _

The large paladin was confused as Devine suppressed a chuckle at the unintended innuendo before making her request clear. "Your Bayard, stick it in that slot and twist it so we can show you just how _big_ her cannon really is." She mused, as Topaz reviled her bayard slot, waiting to be filled. Hunk was still confused but did as she told him and twisted it as the cockpit lit up with golden colored lights.

Near the castle, other Paladins watched with wide eyes as a large cannon, nearly half the size of the Yellow lion, appeared on its back taking aim at an unseen target. "Where was _that_ when we needed it!" Lance yelled in outrage as the massive cannon charged up a shot. Watching as the lion's claws braced itself, extra claws anchoring it securely to the ground before it fired a massive golden beam of energy that streaked up uselessly into the air, only... the Paladins were shown a rather massive asteroid that had come very close to the alien planet, before the golden beam ripped threw it like it had been wet paper.

"Woah~." Hunk expressed his surprise, eyes sparking with interest at the power of the cannon before removing his Bayard, looking at in wonder. "Can I do that?" he asked the woman in the pilot seat. Devine shaking her head as she pulled her hands away from the controls, before tucking them into her jacket pocket. "Not for a while I'm afraid, and my time's up." The strange woman got up from the chair oddly quick before a communication to the red and blue lions were opened. "Keith, its Ruby's turn. Lance be ready with Sapphire, your gonna be needed to keep everything from burring." She told them with a nervous smile. The red paladin could feel his Lion purring with excitement, as Hunk piloted the yellow lion back.

**~Voltron~**

Keith watched with mild interest as Devine made a few calculations on the console, still confused about the way she had greeted the red lion, pressing her forehead to it's nose before Ruby would open her mouth to let her inside. "Now for an intentional burn." She mused grabbing the lion's controls carefully making her run forward, the red lion's tail turning into a flame thrower burring at the uprooted trees and the thick foliage of the forest.

"Hey! There could be someone still in there." Keith argued as he grabbed her shoulder and was shocked at what he suddenly heard.

 **'** _**BURN FOREST! BURN! HAHAHA!'** _

Quickly Keith retracted his hand as he looked at Devine with slight fear, having heard her voice... enjoying the act of burning the healthy and innocent forest. "I'm guessing you understood our little Pyro kitty." she asked, glancing at a confused Keith in amusement before going back to task of setting the forest on fire, within the limits she had set with the yellow lion beforehand.

"She... sounded like you." He told her as Ruby pranced around the burring fire happily, Devine having a bit more difficulty controlling the guardian of fire. "Only because the lions use me as a sort of medium, you hear her purring?" she asked and the young man nodded. The sound was almost shaking the entire cockpit, the vibrations going up his legs an warming his entire body noticeably, it only confused Keith more when she held out her hand to him, the lion standing among the flames around them.

"Then hear what she has to say?" she offered as Keith looked at her hand hesitantly before taking it, the purrs almost instantly turned into words.

 _'Fire burn and smolder, while this kitty gets no older. Come and play we'll shout hurray! All threw out your days~!'_ Devine's voice sang happily before Keith pulled his hand away, the voice sounding like purring again. "Oh-kay? That was weird." Keith voiced as Devine chuckled at the little song the lion had sang in her happiness. "She's really happy. Care to try out your Bayard now?" she asked as the slot opened like it did for Hunk, but Keith hesitated as he watched the flames lick at the lion's legs harmlessly with a frown. "Isn't this a bit too much already?" Keith asked, amazed but also worried about the huge fire she had started.

"Hmm, possibly. We can stop here if you're-" Devine was saying before the red lion started to move on her own, taking to the air. "What? Ruby, no!" the woman yelled as she grabbed the controls, trying to restrain the lion's movements to the ground. "I thought you could pilot the Lions!" Keith yelled as he tried to brace himself as Devine fought the lion for control, only to be thrust into the air spinning like a top and dash around randomly in the air, making her two passengers tumble inside the cockpit.

"Only as long as they let me have control. I'm just not so great in the _**AIR**_!" she coughed as Keith fell into her lap, elbowing her in the stomach as he reached for the controls. Only to make the red lion face plant in front of the others lions, before flipping onto her back as the other's looked on in shock and slight amusement as the red mecha cat had its paws bating at air uselessly.

"Wow... she's a worse pilot than Lance." Pidge commented, watching the red lion wiggle a little before getting back on its feet. "Hey!" Lance took offence to it, now a little worried about Sapphire and himself as the woman came out of the red lion's mouth.

_**~Voltron~** _

"Are you okay Lance? Isn't this uncomfortable for you?" Devine asked out of concern, after giving the blue lion a small kiss on the nose to be let in, Lance had her sitting between his widely spread legs to give her wide hips room between them. Her back to his chest with arms wrapped around her waist tightly as he rested his chin over her right shoulder. The position would have been provocative and unconfutable for both of them, if she had seen the Cuban as more desirable, or more than just a young boy.

"Nope, perfectly fine. We don't want you to hurt your pretty little head again right?" Lance mussed in her ear, getting no reaction besides an eye roll as she grabbed the Lion's controls.

_**'You just don't want to go tumbling around my cockpit when she loses control of me.'** _

Devine's voice pointed out, Lance narrowed his eyes in confusion as she did something on the monitor he couldn't understand, but her lips didn't move. "Did you just say something?" he asked her and Devine shook her head, not looking away from the screen that changed into the image of the sheer cliffs just before the castle. "No, that would be Sapphire using my voice." She informed him as Sapphire spoke up again.

 **'** _ **Don't worry**_ _your_ _**pretty little head my paladin. We are not gonna be flying~.'**_ Sapphire purred happily as Devine stirred the blue lion to take a running start towards the castle's edge. "Hope you brought some swim trunks, Lance." Devine joked as she made Sapphire jump off the cliff the castle was embedded into, going into a daring dive into the far away water below as a high pitched scream was transmitted form the blue lion before it disappeared into the water.

"Devine are you alright!? We heard a scream coming from the blue lion." Shiro was first to ask, appearing on the blue lion's screen looking terrified and pale, only to be confused by what he saw. Devine cringing in mild pain as she cradled her right ear, Lance had wrapped both his arms and legs around her middle, his normally tan skin was a few shades whiter. "N-nope, can't... breathe... Lance." She wheezed out as the blue paladin removed his appendages from her slowly as Sapphire lazy floated through the water, all types of sea creatures swimming around the massive blue lion that scattered once her golden eyes lit up to illuminate the dark deep water.

"S-sorry, didn't want to be scared after that huge fall. Haha!" Lance tried to play cool but Devine could feel him shaking with fear without her empathy gift. "Relax, Sapphire is one cool cat." She joked lightly as Sapphire obeyed her controls, swimming around the water, scaring some of the ocean life as Sapphire froze it with the ice beam in her tail. Lance quietly admiring the alien fish that dared to get close to the lion, unafraid and even swimming with the mecha cat for a bit. "Okay I think that's enough ice for now, let's get to the sonic cannon~." Devine smiled as Sapphire's bayard slot opening up as she purred.

 **'** _ **Yes! Now it's time for me to save the day!'**_ Sapphire cheered happily as Lance let out a relived laugh.

"I was thinking the same thing Safiy~. Let's do this!" Lance agreed, plugging his bayard in the slot and twisting. A cannon that resembled a large tuning fork appeared on the back of the lion. "Cover your ears, because it's about to get loud." Devine warned as the cannon fired, shooting the sonic cannon as the water and chucks of ice where blasted upward into the sky over the castle, drops of water and ice, extinguishing most of the fire. As the some of the ice broke up and melted into a fine mist that refracted the light from the sun, creating a massive rainbow around the lions and the castle, stunning the paladins as they took in the red, yellow, green, blue, and purple rays of light coming together to form a beautiful rainbow.

"Whoa~. You are literally the coolest kitty in the universe!" Lance praised, getting a happy giggle from both lion and the female in front of him.

 **'** _ **Thank you, My paladin.'**_ Sapphire responded happily as her paladin smirked. "Please, call me Lance. We are so gonna be best buds Safie." He asked as Sapphire became ecstatic as she roared. _**'Of course, my Lance~.'**_ She purred making Lance blush, holding Devine a little closer, unintentionally comforting the woman who's hands where shaking as she made the lion shoot out of the water, her grip tight on the controls until the lion was on solid ground.

_**~Voltron~** _

"What kind of powers does Peridot have? What about weapons? Defensive measures? Do you have to always touch the Lion's noses? Is it some sort of access code? Are you the only one who can use it?" Pidge asked eagerly, as Devine barely entered Peridot's cockpit, having drawn a five pointed star inside a circle on the lion's nose to be granted access. The Green Paladin let Devine take the pilot's seat , since being smaller and shorter than the woman would make lap sitting a little uncomfortable.

The older woman smiled at the youngest paladin softly, trying to decipher all her questions and appropriate responses.

"She has the powers of knowledge and nature. Her weapons are mostly plant based, but it may change. Peri is probably the least armored, but arguably the third, fastest of all the lions. No, I don't think so. It's more of a form of greeting then an access code. Your free to try it with the other lions, but I don't think it will work the same way." Devine answered the questions as she sat in the pilot seat, several screens popping up at once as her golden eyes quickly took in the information before her fingers started imputing new information into the lion.

"You can sit in my lap to see for your-self?" She subjected before Pidge readily sat in her lap, a big grin as Peridot's purrs turned to words in the paladin's mind.

 **'** _ **You planted seeds in the ground beforehand. Very cleaver, Little Cub.**_ **'** Pidge blinked in confusion as they heard Devine's voice in their head, but also about the comment, presumably Peridot, had made.

"Seeds? Little cub?" they questioned as Devine showed Pidge the small mounds of dirt closer to the castle that didn't have ashes of burnt trees or tilled soil. "Just a bit before all of you woke up. I planted some seeds near the castle to give the land some life back, and with Peri's help it would be that much quicker." She explained as she gave off green sparks as she smiled. Pidge looked at her, confused by the green sparks the woman admitted as the Bayard slot opened eagerly.

"For more information, please insert one green bayard." Devine joked as Pidge eagerly did as she asked, inserting the green bayard and twisting... only to get no response from the lion. "Isn't... something supposed to happen?" Pidge asked, disheartened before twisting the bayard back and pulling it out to take a look for anything that could be wrong with it.

"Peridot?" Devine questioned the lion, as the lion used Pidge's voice in her mind.

 _ **'My paladin does not understand the universe like we do, little cub. If you wish to show them... then you must do it yourself.'**_ Peridot explained, making the woman hesitate before Pidge looked back at her, holding out the green bayard. There was a slight damper on their eagerness to see the lion's power, despite the large grin on their face.

"Will you show it to me, _Mommy_?" The request broke the woman's already weak resolve as she took the bayard with a soft smile, before planting a small kiss on the young paladin's forehead, Pidge blinking in surprise as pink sparks arched into a small heart shape upon contact.

_**~Voltron~** _

The other paladins watched in amazement from their lions as Peridot fired a small cannon the size of her head, admitting a green light that hit what remained after the fire sink into the soil and reach for the sun as they grew quickly into trees, bushes, flowers and grass that colored the barren landscape they had created. While inside the castle the two Alteans there shocked into disbelief at what they saw grow before the Castel of Lions.

"Those trees... those flowers... those seeds are..." Allura watched with wide eyes that brimmed with tears. "Altean foliage! Where!? How!?" Coran shouted in shock as they both recognized the familiar flora of their lost home, the growth extending outwards as the Altean flora mingled with the native Arusian flora peacefully. The princess's eyes were on the purple flowers that boomed rapidly in front of the castle, extending into the revitalized forest.

"Juniberry flowers...I thought I would never see them again." she whispered to herself as a single tear escaped her eye as Coran connected to the green lion. "Miss Devine!" Coran called out, the two grinning in excitement on screen. "Yes, Coran?" Devine questioned, trying not to draw attention to her hand pulling out the green bayard, she had a suspicion about what he wanted to ask.

"Where did you get those seeds?! Altea was destroyed, along with all it's beautiful flora and fona!" he asked franticly, but Pidge answered him egerly. "Peridot has a data base filled with _BILLIONS_ of different plant life forms, so she can shot and grow just about any kind of them! Did you guys know that!?" the excited paladin asked, as the two Alteans looked at each other in shock, confusion, and worry.

Not having been aware of several abilities the lions had, but Devine strangely had known of.

_**~Voltron~** _

Exiting Peridot and making sure the Altean flora would be okay in its new environment, Devine approached Obsidian without having to do a special greeting. The lion lowered and allowed her inside without further prompting. The woman gulped nervously before entering the lion's mouth, the purring only getting louder as she entered the cockpit, just as Shiro moved to get out of the chair.

"Stay. I'm going to have to sit on your lap since... Obisidian is the guardian of the sky, and I'm not a very good pilot in the air." Devine blushed as she stopped Shiro from getting out of the chair to let her pilot. "Alright, but are you gonna be comfortable sitting in my lap then?" he asked slightly joking, sitting back down in the pilot's chair before being surprised that she actually sat in his lap, making him lightly blush. She wasn't as heavy without her suit, dressed in more casual clothes, Devine wasn't very heavy but she wasn't light either, she weighted... _comfortably_ in his lap.

' _No._ ' Shiro was confused he heard her voice in his mind, as he watched her grabbed the controls of the black lion. The warmth of her body seeping through his paladin armor, pink sparks coming off her skin he could feel her back stiffen ageists his chest as the black Lion moved forward slowly, the other paladins watching with interest as the lion mecha seemed to move like an actual lion stalking its prey.

"How well do you think Obsidian is gonna fly with Miss Devine at the controls?" Pidge asked, a little worried and amused for the black paladin. "I'm sure Shiro would help her out. I don't think we'll see the black lion face plant any time soon." Keith piped in, feeling Ruby share his feelings with no words only a low, displeased growl. "Dude they all have names, use them." Lance smirked as Sapphire seemed to agree with him as she purred happily. "I'm just curious why does Obsidian have those wing things on her back. Do Altean lions have wings?" Hunk voiced as his lion was softly purring, the yellow Paladin wishing he could understand Topaz again. "What do you think his weapon would be?" he asked before everyone realized something important.

"Shiro doesn't have a Bayard." Keith informed with a confused frown, the black lion let out a massive roar before crouching and taking to the air in a giant leap "Anyone got a camera? I wanna film this." Lance mused as he watched the lion fly even higher into the sky before becoming confused. "You think Shiro will realize she can't show him the lion's weapon?" Pidge asked, curious as the other's remained quite while watching the black lion that hovered high in the sky.

Inside Obsidian's cockpit, Shiro's large hands where gently placed over Devine's on the controls. "T-thanks." Devine squeaked out, admiring how warm Shiro was even threw her clothes and his armor, he was gently guiding her hands on the controls as they did basic flying formations, spreading the pollen to encourage new foliage to grow. "No problem. Too bad I don't have my Bayard." He chuckled softly before the image of a black and white Bayard entered his mind. _'What was that?'_ Shiro questioned before he heard Devine chuckle and purr into the shell of his ear.

 **'** _ **Your bayard, my paladin~.'**_ Shiro gulped as her voice sounded seductive before he realized it was the black lion speaking to him, and not the blushing woman in his lap. "It's still out there Shiro, when we find it. We'll grab it. In the meantime, I think Obie and I know a little go around for now." Devine told him as the Bayard slot opened, waiting for input. "H-how?" Shiro asked as she slipped her right hand from under his Glara arm, and placing her hand over it. Both their hands glowing different shades of purple that swirled together as it moved around their hands. The light moving into Shiro's palm, turning white to form something that was shaped like a bayard. Devine's fingers rested on top of the strangely warm prosthetic, as if it was still made of flesh and bone. Gently pressing on the knuckles to make his fingers grasp what looked to be a colorless, white bayard. Shiro was slightly surprised he could feel his fingers grasp something solid and the woman’s calloused fingers on the back of his hand.

"Here goes nothing." Devine voiced nervously as she semi-controlled the robotic arm, jammed the while bayard into the slot, twisting it as the black lion's cockpit lit up with bright purple lights, activating it's hidden power as their hearts beat loudly in their chest as they raced to match the other's rhythm.

_**~Voltron~** _

"WHOA! You guys seeing this!?" Lance asked as the other paladins stared up at the black lion as the red fins on its back opened up, several lavender colored diamonds spreading out to from bird like wings, the air around it blowing strongly as the clouds disbursed, letting the sun shine on the flora below, back lighting the form of the black lion as she gave an excited roar.

The show began as the black lion arched backwards into an elegant arch, falling to the ground doing a few flips where her tail touched her nose, before smoothly stopping a few miles from the ground and flying over the flowers and trees, snow white pollen stirred up in the down draft that followed the lavender wings. Making the lion look more like a shooting star as it twirled and twisted in the air like it was dancing.

"So... does this mean Voltron has wings too?" Keith asked as they all watched the lion do aerial tricks with inhuman elegance, the red paladin briefly doubted Shiro was making the lion do such... girly movements. The other's where speechless as they watched Obsidian slowly approach them, paws patting the ground, as dainty as a giant mecha lion could, the wings slowly dissipating as she got closer, a firm breeze blowing over the other lions as the wings deactivated and the black lion took an elegant bow after her performance.

**_~Voltron~_ **

Devine sighed as she had felt the Obsidian slowly stop draining her quintessence, something the lion needed to activate the wings without the proper bayard. Stretching out her stiff back, letting her head fall back onto Shiro's chest, drowsy form the drain, and from what her hazed mind could tell, the black paladin felt the same way. Shiro was slumped forward, resting his chin on her shoulder as he panted for air, taking in the woman’s strange but familiar scent that coated his tongue.

"That was... wow..." Shiro voiced, not sure how to describe the odd feeling, he could almost feel the wings sprout form his own back. Devine's quintessence flowing through his arm and into his body to... _mixing_ with his own, gently guiding it into his prosthetic into a bayard that felt so real before channeling it into Obsidian threw the placebo bayard.

' _Almost as good as sex~.'_ He heard her voice purr in his mind, his face going bright red as he processed the words. _'What!? Obsidian?'_ ’ he questioned mentally as there was an amused chuckle. _**'Did you enjoy that, my paladin?'**_  her voice purred in his mind, confused as he glanced at the woman, not seeing her lips move to speak as her eyes slowly shut, almost falling asleep in his lap.

"Do the Lions have to use your voice?" Shiro asked unsurely, making Devine jolt out of her haze. "I-I don't think so. I hear each of your voices from your lions." she explained tiredly, shutting her eyes again as Obsidian explained. ' _ **It's a matter of preference. Don't you like hearing her voice**_ _purring **in your ear, my Paladin?'**_ Obsidian asked, amused as Shiro shivered from the pleasant but strange feeling that surged threw his entire body.

"Obie, stop it." Devine reprimand, able to hear and understand the lion's words to her paladin, but also feeling how _strange_ Shiro was becoming form her words.

 _ **'Why~? I'm not the one being the**_ _Bad Kitty **here~.'**_ Obsidian mused, using Shiro's voice in her mind. The paladin feeling the warm tingles threw his armor as he blushed when she shifted in his lap, her soft hair brushing across his chin as she stopped leaning on his chest. A strange sweet smell making the human paladin's mouth dry and his body to become rigged with realization downing upon him.

' _Crap!'_ Shiro though as he felt himself react, like any male would with an attractive female just sitting his lap, it wasn't helped by the fact that he had been unable to _take care_ of himself in the Galra prisons, at least... not to his memory.

 _ **'See~ you're seducing my paladin all on your own.'**_ Obsidian teased as both of them stiffened with bright red blushes invading their complexions.

" _ **OBSIDIAN!"**_ they both yelled at the lion who only chuckled at them in amusement. _**'Why not just-'**_ Obsidian was saying before Devine quickly stood up from Shiro's lap, leaving him to only able to hear lion noises and Devine unable to look at the Voltron leader after what Obsidian had almost said to him. ' _ **It wouldn't hurt to have a little**_ _fun **with my paladin~.'**_ The lion reasoned with Devine, only she said nothing as she made her way out of the cockpit, much to Shiro's confusion and disappointment.

_**~Voltron~** _

Devine was quiet as Coran had them all gathered in the training room again, white and blue headsets on the paladins to project their surface thoughts but opened their minds up for the other's to look deeper. Thankfully Coran thought it was more important that all five of them bonded without her in this instance. "Now the most important part of paladin training is being able to meld your minds and focus on one thing: Voltron. Let everything else has to fade away. This technique will be essential every time you form Voltron. So, relax and open your mind. No walls, no lies, no secrets between paladins." Coran instructed as he linked their minds threw the head sets.

Devine looked on tiredly from where sat slightly away from their little pentagon circle, a worried frown formed on her lips as she saw Keith thinking of his home back on Earth, abandoned in the desert without him or anyone else to care for it anymore. Lance with his large extended family: his mother, father, aunt, uncles, grandmother, several cousins and his siblings. Hunk was thinking of food, and the muffins she had made making her crack a small smile. Pidge was thinking of possibly the last happy moment she had with her brother Matt before he left for Kerberos. It confused the woman how anyone could see the two as a couple when the two siblings looked so much alike. Shiro however was different, startling her as she saw her own back, half undressed from the purple paladin suit, her scared and crystal decorated back exposed for the other's to see briefly before it quickly changed to the Kerberos ship before it's launch.

She could feel the Altean's eyes on her, questioning and worried as she looked away uncomfortably, hoping no one would ask about her back before Coran's focus shifted back to the paladins.

"Relax and open your minds. No walls, No, lies, no secrets between paladins. Come on, everyone, clear everything." Coran guided them. "Now, focus on forming your lion. Bring your lions together and form Voltron." The others pictured their lions slowly coming together to from the giant robot, but Pidge's mind flickered from Peridot to the picture and back.

"Good! Keep focusing! Only one more to go!" Coran encourage as Devine could felt the young paladin's unease with opening their mind to others as she watched the Peridot's image flicker in and out of concentration. "Pidge, stop thinking of your girlfriend!" Keith snapped, glaring at Pidge as he concentrated on Ruby. "I wasn't! Hunk was rooting around in my head!" the green paladin accused angrily as they tried to bring back the green lion while trying to protect their own mind.

"I thought we were being open." Hunk defended. "You can look in my head hole if you want to." He offered, unhelpfully.

"Everyone has to be able to look into everyone's head holes!" Coran yelled, cutting off the argument before Pidge could respond. "Clear your minds!" the Altean instructed as everyone tried again, the holograms were all coming together to form Voltron. "Good! Almost there, now. From Voltron. Yes!" Coran yelled in excitement a little too early as the green lion disappeared again, replaced by the image of the two siblings.

"Pidge!" Lance yelled accusingly as the green paladin stood up before throwing the head set on the floor in anger. "I'm done with this! I don't like everyone grubbing around inside my head!" Pidge shouted in frustration. Devine was tempted to pull out the letter she had stored in her pocket, the green paladin's _real_ name on it, but she knew it could derail a lot of future plans and events.

It was best to keep it a secret, presenting it as a very last resort... or not at all.

"Oh, come on, guys. We were just starting to get the hang of this." Shiro voiced, disappointed in the others for looking in Pidge's head without proper permission, then again, the youngest paladin shouldn't be hiding anything from them as they needed to form Voltron again. "I'm just... I'm just tired, okay? And Miss Devine, already fell asleep." Pidge sighed tiredly, looking over at the woman who had fallen over into a dead sleep, laying on the floor, even drooling a little as everyone looked at her in confused shock.

Shiro looked at her worriedly as he took off his head set. "Okay. Let's take a break for now. Showing us our Lion's abilities must have taken a lot out of her." the Voltron leader reasoned worriedly before Coran easily picked the woman up into his arms, gently cradling her as she slept. "Yes, activating the individual powers of the lions would drain the paladins of old as well. I'm impressed she activated Peridot's bayard at all, but it's much more draining for a novice pilot or non-paladin to give their quintessence to the lions." the mustached Altean explained as he looked down at the sleeping female, giving her a strange look that made the black paladin uneasy as he stood up from the floor to approach Coran.

"I'll take Miss Devine to her room to get some sleep and you can-" Shiro was saying, moving to take the sleeping woman from the Altean who only held on to her tighter and narrowed his eyes at the Japanese young man who frowned in slight annoyance. "Not to worry Number One. I'll make sure this little one gets to bed, you all just relax and I'll bring over some refreshments in a dobadash." Coran insisted as he swiftly exited the training room as the younger paladins watched the odd display. Shiro watching the two Alteans disappear from his site as a strange feeling overcame him.

_**~Voltron~** _

Coran let out a relived sigh as the door to the young woman's assigned room closed behind him, still a sleep in his arms, a caring smile was growing under his mustache as he walked over to the large bed, fit for a princess, laying her down on the soft mattress. Giving a displeased moan as she turned to her side in discomfort, her back to the male Altean who let out a small chuckle before moving to remove her shoes. Having a bit more trouble with her jacket, but he eventually got it off of her as she rolled onto her front, her backless purple top exposing the pattern Shiro had accidently seen before.

"Could it be?" the Altean asked, a hand cautiously reaching out to touch the white crystals that gave an unnatural shimmer in the dark room, creating a very familiar pattern centered around a rather large white crystal that was just below the base of her neck. "No. She died before this war even began, and... she acts to different from the princess." the altean advisor reasoned quietly to himself before he caught site of the juniberry flower on her night stand, still just a bud that wasn't ready to bloom. Coran frowned as he looked down at the young woman, gently running a gloved hand over her head as she seemed to smile at the affection, sparking into a strange shape the Altean didn't know the meaning of before he pulled away to leave.

_**~Voltron~** _

Coran passed out some juice box things to the paladins as they sat on the floor of the observation room, the mood in the room feeling less hopeful as the Altean realize Devine had also been trying to keep the paladin's sprits and energy up, sacrificing her own for them in more ways than one.

"You have all been working hard. It's time to relax a little before trying again." Coran suggested as he handed out the drinks, Devine not preparing a snack this time seemed to dampen their sprits further. Luckily the juice didn't taste too weird unlike the goo they would have to try and get used to.

"Why are all of you just laying around?" Everyone looked at Allura as she entered the room, hands on her hips the mice on her shoulders as she glared at the paladins. "You're supposed to be training! Not sitting about drinking juice boxes." Allura yelled at them disappointed as she looked at each of them. "Where is Miss Devine? She could use a bit of training herself." she added, looking a little angary for some reason.

"Princess, Miss Devine has gone down for a little nap and the Paladian's are taking a well-deserved break. You know you can't push _them_ too hard." Coran informed her, but it did not please the princess. "What do you mean ' _Can't push them too hard'_!?" she huffed, getting frustrated by the lack of progress the paladins where making. Concluding that Devine had been manipulating and distracting them form actually forming Voltron, intentionally or unintentionally she didn't know for sure.

"Get up you lazy lumps! It's time you faced _The Gladiator_!" Allura commanded as Coran looked worried as the Paladin's gave her looks of annoyance or sounds of their unhappiness with her. Shiro possibly being the only one who didn't display his annoyance outwardly.

_**~Voltron~** _

"In order to defeat the Gladiator, all five paladins must fight as one." Coran instructed the paladins that where once again in the training room, the princess overseeing their training with Coran. Down below, the paladins had their bayards out, scanning for the Gladiator, but Hunk was the first to let out a yelp of surprise as the large Altean robot dropped from the opening just above his head. A bo staff in its hands as it shifted into a battle stance as its single blue eye flashed before lunging at the large paladin without warning.

"Whoa!" Hunk activated his bayard quickly, firing in its direction haphazardly but completely missed hitting it. Giving the Gladiator a chance to get close with its staff to sweep Hunk's feet from under him before zapping the yellow paladin in the chest with one end of the staff. Defeating the large paladin with ease before Pidge ran at it, bayard on the attack.

The Gladiator however blocked the attack easily with the staff before easily knocking the small paladin off to land on top of their fellow, _defeated_ , paladin.

Lance took a literal shot at The Gladiator as Pidge was defeated, only to have his shots deflected as the robot came at the long range weapon user, hitting Lance in the side. To his credit, Lance kept trying to hit The Gladiator and his shots got deflected before his rifle was knocked out of his hands, leaving him open to attack as the robot hit the blue paladin on his head and stomach, winding Lance for a moment or two before it turned to deal with Keith's ' _surprise'_ attack. Deflecting the red paladin's sword rather easily before turning back to Lance, hitting the recovering paladin in the head once more before flinging his body into Keith's like a rag doll.

Then it turned to Shiro, who's bionic arm glowed dangerously as The Gladiator dashed at him about to strike at the black paladin, a memory of Zarkon's face flashed threw his mind, making him freeze reflexively in terror. "Shiro!" Keith yelled worriedly as he tried to get Lance's body off of him to save his mentor, only for the staff to be caught by a clawed hand.

Six pairs of eyes went wide as a low _BOOM_ echoed through the room, the robot tried to process the sudden appearance of a new combatant. Devine's ember eyes where half closed with strands of white hair slightly in her face, slender fingers grasped the staff firmly, electricity ran through the staff to try and shock her into letting go, only to make her white hair frieze and glow slightly.

The Gladiator detected no weapons on the woman who was bear footed and without her trusty jacket, the lavender top hugging her body as her long white hair flowed down her shoulders and back. The Gladiator tried to pulled its weapon away only to be yanked forward and revive an open fist to the chest. The woman's hand glowing with unnatural black energy as her nails sunk into its armor, making the droid twitch before all its internal power was drained, falling onto it's back in a useless heap.

 ** _Defeated_**.


	4. Chapter 4: Healing Hope

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a few suggestive moments in this one. Season 6 has really hit me in the feels.

**_~Chapter 4, Healing Hope~_ **

"I thought that would be more _*yawn*_ interesting." Devine muttered sleepily, pouting a little as she rested the stolen weapon on the floor, letting it lean over her shoulder as it was half a foot taller than her current height. Titling her head to the side tiredly, closing her eyes she could feel the young Paladins staring at her in shock, surprise, and confusion with a dash of envy.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, eyes closed out of drowsiness as the young paladins looked at her. She could sense Shiro behind her, feeling puzzled and confused once he came out of his episode. His sudden burst of terror having reached her as she slept, making her act without thinking, not caring about concealing her secrets or plans upon feeling that dark abyss of dread again.

"What's the matter? Lion got your tongues?" She asked tiredly, as she felt her ear twitch in slight irritation, before they both perked up on top of her head at attention, something rough and warm was unsurely caressing the shell of her ear.

"Are these... real?" Shiro asked, as he stared at the white and gray triangles, that looked like stripped cat ears, on top of Devine's head. Having reached out curiously and ran his flesh and blood thumb over junction where the furry appendage met her skull, unknowingly pressing into a sensitive spot.

" _Yes_ ~." Devine moaned happily, shivering in delight as she purred, rubbing her head into the paladin’s touch. Shiro blushed as the other ear twitched in delight, the woman glowing white before opening her eyes in shocked horror, realizing what was happening before grabbing hold of the Paladin’s arm tightly.

" ** _DON'T DO THAT!"_** Devine hissed at him angrily, prying Shiro’s hand off her ear while blushing bright red. Covering her cat ears with her hands before sliding them down the side of her head, where her ears should have been, making pointed Altean ears appear instead.

"Aww, why is Shiro the only one who gets to feel them?" Hunk pouted as he and the others had been entranced by the furry appendages. "There not for touching Hunk." She told him flatly before she yawned tiredly, the furry ears appearing again on top of her head, hanging low as she closed her eyes in a moment of lethargy.

"They’re back!" Pidge yelled excitedly as they approached Devine excitedly.

"Can I feel them, too? Please~?" the young paladin pleaded cutely as they watched the furry things twitch irritation as one golden eye popped open in slight irritation. "No, Pidge. I don't like them being touched." She responded to the teen as she ran her fingers threw her frizzy hair, trying to smooth it down. Her fluffy ears to lay flat across her skull in annoyance, no longer trying to get rid of the feline appendages that had appeared.

"I-i'm going back to bed." She declared with a slight growl, before the Alteans approached the combatants, Allura with a scowl on her face and Coran looking slightly dazed.

"Actually Miss Devine, I would prefer it if you joined us for dinner. Since you felt the need to _defeat_ the Gladiator for the paladins, you should join in on their training." Allura responded with contained anger as she glanced at the twitching fighting machine, hands on her hips as she took a commanding stance to look intimidating, but Devine was not affected.

"It was too easy and outdated anyway. The basic Galra sentries now are a lot tougher than your so-called, _Gladiator_." Devine hissed out, the older woman handing over the bo staff to the princess in favor of combing her hair to tame it. The young paladins looked at her in disbelief as the princess let the staff fall to the ground, a heavy boom filling the quiet room from its impact on the floor.

"That thing kicked our butts and it was about to take out Shiro." Keith pointed out as Devine yawned tiredly, Allura then turned on the paladins.

"That combat simulator was set at a level fit for an Altean child! It defeated all of you, yet Miss Devine took it out unarmed in one blow!" Allura nearly yelled at them in disappointment. "You're not even close to working as a team, let alone facing Zarkon!" She finished, crossing her arms over her chest. Dread spread threw the younger paladins as Devine shared Shiro’s worry for the teens before sighing tiredly.

"I'm gonna need some coffee."

' _And Alcohol.'_

Devine thought, Shiro looking at her with worry. Still abled to hear a few of the woman’s thoughts at certain moments, but most almost seemed to be layered over several other thoughts at once.

**_~Voltron~_ **

"Coran are you sure this is still safe to eat?" Devine asked as she drank her coffee, with a little space sweetener, some substance that tasted like heavy cream, and alcohol that Coran so wisely provided. She thought to question the advisor about the _habits_ of the former Altean Queen but getting the makeshift Irish coffee in her system was much more important, the health and wellbeing of the paladins was a very close second at the moment.

"Of course! Altean Space goo never goes bad! Give it a taste." He offered the neon green jello like goo to her a bowl with a smile just as she finished her first cup of coffee. "Thanks, but I'm not drunk enough to try and eat it." She blurted out; whipping the cream off her upper lip with a finger before popping it into her mouth. Making herself another cup of the familiar drink with slight hesitation, making alcoholic cocktails was nearly second nature and became useful one too many times before. She could feel Coran's concern and disappointment, but what the advisor was concerned about confused her.

Coran left the kitchen with the ' _food goo'_ leaving her alone to fix her coffee, leaving out the alcohol and other additives. Golden eyes stared into the dark drink inside the white porcelain like cup for a moment, her furry ears dropped down in a mix of nervousness and anxiety, taking a sip of the concoction, the bitter drink coating her tongue.

**_~Voltron~_ **

"Ahoy, young Paladins! I've whipped up a big batch of focusing food for everyone. After this meal, you'll be forming Voltron six times a movement, and twice on the astral conflux!" Coran yelled gleefully as he set out the food on the long table, green goo and odd colored cubes in bowls and on plates being presented for dinner.

The paladins carefully sat down, not to tempted to try the very strange food even Hunk had a problem eating. Devine came out of the kitchen and sat in the nearest chair, which was to Shiro's right at one end of the long table. She sipped her coffee calmly, leaning back into the chair to watch the entertaining show that was about to go down. The young paladin’s looking at the ‘ _food’_ with dread, showing how much they were still mentally children.

"Smells great, Coran. Thanks." Shiro thanked the Altean, trying to be the polite adult of the group as he leaded the others to at least _try_ the food. Devine moved her coffee cup to sit in front of her on the table before Coran then pressed a small button; cuffs appearing around the Paladins' wrists, locking their writs to the one sitting beside them. Save for Pidge's right hand that was pinned to the chair and Shiro's left, that locked to Devine’s right wrist, both their eyes widening in surprise as they looked at each other and then down at their cuffed wrists.

"Hold the phone!" Lance shouted in surprise, finding his wrists cuffed to Hunk and Keith suddenly.

"I saw a lot of solid individual performances today, but you're still struggling to work as a team. So, welcome to the final bonding exercise of the day. This also includes you Miss Devine." Coran proclaimed with a sly grin, Devine’s furry ear twitched in slight annoyance as Shiro let her pull his left arm, so she could reach her coffee cup, her left cuffed to her chair.

"Coran, I want you to think about what you're doing." Hunk threatened as he scowled at the Altean male who was not intimidated in the least. "This one's a classic. You get to feed each other, like a pack of yalmors!" Coran explained excitingly, the reference to the wolf like creatures was lost as the younger paladins glared at one another angrily.

“Did this exercise _really_ bring the original paladin’s closer?” Devine asked skeptically, carefully sipping her coffee before setting it down, letting Shiro pull her arm closer without resistance. “Well… in a way yes. Yes, it did.” Coran provided flatly, conflicted emotions coming from the orange Altean. While the paladins where trying to figure out how to eat the space goo halfheartedly, a lot of goo being spilled in the process made them look like toddlers learning to feed themselves.

The woman tried not to show her amusement when Shiro sighed tiredly. "Mind if I have a sip of that?" Shiro asked her semi seriously, his left hand reached for her coffee. Devine smirked and pushed it into his reach. “Only if you can handle your coffee black.” She mussed letting the black paladin take her mug, feeling some slight embarrassment as he hesitated with taking a sip of the dark liquid. The Paladin visibly relaxed as he ingested the caffeinated drink, letting her have it back a she smirked at him, noticing half the mug was gone. Shiro let her move his left arm so she could drink the rest, only missing the light blush on his cheeks.

“See! This young Paladins, this is a prime example of team work!” Coran pointed out proudly as all eyes turned to their end of the table, Hunk looking at them in shock. “You mean Shiro and Miss Devine having an indirect kiss?” he asked as Coran and Keith looked at Hunk in confusion, Devine hid her amused smirk behind the mug as Shiro blushed at it being pointed out.

“What is... an _indirect kiss_?” Allura asked as she joined them, narrowing her eyes in suspicion at all of them, now dressed in her normal princess dress with her hair flowing free down her back, having walked in right after Shiro gave the mug back to Devine.

“An indirect kiss is when someone’s mouth touches something that someone else's mouth touched recently. Like Miss Devine drinking from the same coffee mug Shiro did just now.” Pidge pointed out as the Alteans and Keith gasped with eyes going wide in shock. Devine shook her head in amusement and Shiro’s blush darkened as he didn’t intend for it to happen.

“It’s also called _sharing_ , since neither of us can get up to get another mug of coffee.” The woman pointed out with some bite to her tone. _‘They still make such a big deal about indirect kisses? They really are just children.’_ She thought sadly as Shiro glanced at her before looking over at the younger paladins sadly. Allura taking the seat across from Shiro with a slight pout, willing down a small blush as Coran left to fetch the princess a plate. “Miss Devine, for future reference the head of the table is where the host is supposed to sit.” Allura informed the woman seriously as Devine rolled her eyes. “I think we can drop most of the formalities, Allura. This isn’t some high society tea party, it’s just a casual dinner among _teammates_.” The older woman reasoned, letting Shiro finish off the coffee as he caught on to what the woman was trying to do. Devine’s furry ears perking up as the stripes turned a soft blue, Allura giving off a flash of anger, narrowing her eyes at the older woman.

“More coffee Miss Devine? Number one?” Coran interrupted, hastily placing dinner plates full of green goo before the two females, coming between them as he set another mug next to Devine’s, filling up the two mugs with the dark liquid. “Thank you, Coran.” Devine gave the mustached Altean a polite smile as Shiro happily took one of the mugs, Devine letting him grab it as Allura grabbed the other mug in curiosity.

“Coran what is this?” she asked her advisor but the older woman answered shortly after. “It’s coffee, a drink that simulates wakefulness in the drinker, but it’s-” Devine tried to explain, stripes turning yellow as Allura tried the hot beverage, taking a gulp before spitting it out. Without thinking the older woman summoned a shield in between the black paladin and the hot liquid that spewed from the Altean princess’s mouth, gaging at the strange taste. Shiro looking disgusted and relived as he sighed once the shield disappeared, a gush of liquid falling to the table.

“-bitter.” Devine informed the princess with a slightly amused smirk she couldn’t hide, her stripes nearly blended with the rest of her fury ears as they glowed white, watching Allura trying to retain her poise.

“Hey Coran can I get a mug of that too?” Pidge asked, sighing as Keith pulled away control of their left hand, becoming frustrated with the red paladin.

“No. It’s bad for your growth.” Devine responded sternly.

“You and Allura are drinking it.” The green paladin pointed out as the woman raised her restrained wrists as Coran cleaned up the spilled coffee.

“Well I literally have my hand’s tied, so I couldn’t stop her, and my back kills me enough as it is.” She mentioned, straiting out her back with several small pops as her chest giggled, getting the table’s attention as their mouths dropped slightly from the sudden, implied vulgarity, the boys blushing lightly as they observed her plump breasts. “I don’t _need_ to grow anymore.” Devine hissed in annoyance, slouching as she tried not to bring attention to her chest, pulling her legs up to try and hide them, her stripes turning yellow as they lowered sheepishly. Shiro frowned as he noticed the woman looking away from the strange food nervously, not even attempting to try it.

"Next time we do this. I'm sitting next to Miss Devine!" Lance yelled in frustration as he glared at Keith, who had his hand stuck in Lance's bowl of food goo. "It's your fault!" Keith snapped at the blue paladin in frustration. "This is ridiculous." He grumbled as the red paladin yanked his arms closer, only pulling the blue and green paladins closer to him in the process.

"Ouch!" Lance cried out in pain as Hunk bit into his hand on ' _accident'_ , after Lance’s hand hit the yellow paladin’s face. "Sorry." Hunk apologized, not seeming very sorry as he glanced at Devine, who let Shiro control his left arm when she wasn’t drinking coffee, the food goo before her going untouched.

"Do Earthlings ever stop complaining? Miss Devine, it’s rude to not eat the food you are so kindly given." Allura reprimand the woman, eating her own goo, not having a problem at all with the taste that made the older woman cringe.

_'How can she eat this?'_ Devine thought as she wearily eyed the goo, something in the back of her mind was telling her not to eat it.

"Allura, can't you just give us a break? Everyone's been working really hard today." Shiro sighed, scowling at the princess, not liking the way she was acting.

"Yeah! We're not some prisoners for you to toy with, like…like…" Keith piped up, trying to think of a comparison before Lance chimed in helpfully. "Like a bunch of toy prisoners!" He yelled as Keith shot him a quick smirk. "Yes! Thank you, Lance!" Keith praised as Devine wiggled the fingers on her left hand in anticipation, testing the quintessence powered restraint carefully.

' _Here it comes.'_ She thought as Shiro glanced at her in confusion.

"You do not yell at the Princess!" Coran yelled back, furrowing his eyebrows at the two Paladins, before the youngest of the group decided to speak up.

"Oh? The princess of what?" Pidge asked, voice dripping with sarcasm. "We're the only ones out here, she’s not our _princess_ , but she's been acting more like a royal pain in the-!" Pidge was interrupted by some goo hitting their face. Allura glared at Pidge as she took a stance with a spoon now void of the goo she had sent at the Paladin's face. Coran looked at Allura, slightly shocked by what she had just done.

“Go loose Pidge!” Keith yelled, grabbing a bowl of goo with his right hand.

' _And we're off.'_ Devine thought with a smirk, slipping her left hand from the deactivated cuff, just as Keith launched the of goo at Allura, only for Coran to block it with the table cloth, before swing a ladle filled with goo at the paladins. Devine having brought up a shield to block the goo.

"Oh! It's on now." Hunk challenged with a dangerous gleam in his eyes. Being unable to use his hands he shoved his face into a large bowl of goo in front of him, inhaling it before lifting his head back up, squeezing his full cheeks to send the goo back at the Alteans who got covered in the goo and spit mixture over their shocked and disgusted faces.

The Paladins quickly took cover behind their chairs as the goo was flung across the room, Devine smiled as she protected herself from stray goo. Her energy going up as they took out their frustrations on the princess, or tried to, Coran was honorably acting as Allura’s shield as the princess threw goo at the offending Paladins.

The older woman smirked as she carefully picked up some goo herself, flinging it at the princess once Coran was unable to protect her. Covered in more goo, Allura whipped her head over to Devine, who gave her an impish grin at being discovered. The princess glared at Devine before throwing goo in her direction, only hitting her shield as the older woman avoided being hit the Altean goo.

Over all it was a wonderful site to see and feel, the negative emotions being worked away into glee, happiness and relief once the room was coated in goo. It felt safe to finally bring down her shield as Allura took a seat with a tired sigh.

Devine looked at the Paladins proudly, as they all laughed at the mess they made. Closing her eyes, she slowly drank in the emotions, the paladins then noticed her goo free appearance, with gleeful grins, thinking of the same thing. They quickly picked up some goo before the woman opened her golden eyes wide to a volley of goo.

"AGH!" Devine screamed, cringing as the slightly warm food goo covered her as much as it did everyone else, making them all laugh harder. "You didn't think we would forget about you. Did you, Devine?" Shiro smirked, looking down at the goo covered female who franticly whipped away the goo with her now free left hand. Golden eyes turned to glare at him as her stripes became a light pink as they lowered to the side of her head, twitching in irritation.

"H-honestly I wasn't too keen on taking a shower before I took a proper nap." She admitted, but still gave them all a small smile. "But it's not fair since I didn't hit any of you." She added, glancing at a recovering Allura, still covered in the goo Devine had hit her with. The older woman made a mental note of the younger paladins aim not being as good as her’s.

"Do you see what all of you are doing?" Allura asked, smiling excitedly as she regained her breath. "You're finally working together as one!" She pointed out as the Paladins looked at one another in realization.

"Hey, she's right!" Keith agreed, smiling as Lance looked at him with a smile. "I actually don't hate you right now." The blue paladin confessed, no longer feeling negative towards his fellow paladin.

"You guys thinking what I'm thinking?" Hunk asked, looking excited.

"Let's go form Voltron!" Shiro suggested confidently.

" **Yeah!** " The younger paladins cheered at the suggestion before Hunk made himself clear. "Actually, I was thinking dessert. But, yeah! Let's do it!" He agreed none the less, lifting his arms in excitement, catching the others off guard as they tumbled to the floor.

Pidge pining Keith down to on top of Lance by laying over their legs, Hunk being pinned by half of Shiro and Devine’s combined weight, the black paladin unintentionally pulling the woman down to lay on his chest. Shiro blushed as the pink and white ears slightly tickled his chin as they twitched nervously, making chuckle along with the other paladins who laughed at their sudden fall.

Devine tried to suppress a purr as she felt everyone’s delight, only to abandon the idea once she felt Shiro’s hot breath hit her ears, his chuckles turning into laughter that rocked threw his chest. Coran and Allura joining in on the laugh but the princess looked concerned as the older woman sparked pink and white. 

**_~Voltron~_ **

The lions flew out of the castle, with their paladins feeling more in sync then before. Coran, Allura and Devine standing in the newly revived field in front of the castle, green grass and flowers swaying in the breeze as the lions flew over them. Devine’s eyes sparkled as she observed the lions flying in the classic V formation as she held back the lose strands of white hair that freely danced in the breeze from her face.

The Black Lion spear heading the formation. The woman felt something strangely warm sensation on her back, hearing the five Lions growl, creating a rainbow-colored trail with their glowing quintessence. She couldn’t stop herself from grinning excitedly as she watched Obsidian retract her front paws into her sholders, Ruby and Peridot becoming arms as they attached to the black lion’s shoulders, Sapphire and Topaz becoming the legs, attaching to Obsidian’s rear paws before her mouth opened, revealing a human like face underneath creating the head as the black lion’s yellow ears unfolded into a horn like head piece. The giant robot striking a rather heroic pose as the transformation was completed, carefully landing on the ground as the grass and flowers gently swayed from the displaced air, gently caressing the blue and yellow limbs.

“It’s Voltron~! It’s Voltron~! They finally formed Voltron~!” Devine chanted gleefully, unable to keep her feet on the ground, floating in the air giggling at the strange feeling coming over her, doing some flips and twist as she squealed happily in her childlike excitement. The Alteans looked up at the giant robot in relief and nostalgia with their feet firmly on the ground.

"I told you I could get them to do it. They just needed a common enemy." Allura mussed proudly, remembering when she had first seen the lions combine as a child, her blue eyes sparking with a glimmer of hope.

"It's true. Like the old proverb says, _'A man can be driven to do anything,_ _if a beautiful woman is just really, really mean to him'_." Coran worded sagely from behind Allura who scowled at her advisor before Devine flipped upside down in the air to his left. "I think you mean, _'A man can be driven to do anything, if given the right motivation.'"_ Devine commented as she grinned widely, her golden eyes sparking with as her furry ears twitched excitedly. "Or _'A man would do anything to please a beautiful woman.'_ " She added jokingly as she felt _Voltron,_ not the individual lions, reach out and cress her quintessence and sooth her excitement.

' _Wonderful job~, Paladins of Voltron.'_ Devine though calmly, unaware of the Paladins hearing her thought threw her mental connection to Voltron, her attention focusing on the gold and teal colored V across it’s chest in confusion, the color seeming to appear inverted before she blinked, the insignia back to its normal coloring suddenly.

_‘What was that?’_

**_~Voltron~_ **

Once back everyone was back inside the castle, the Paladins almost immediately went to bed in their assigned rooms. Allura and Coran truing in soon after, leaving a still awake Devine to work off her access energy by exploring the castle a little more.

Entering the healing pod chamber to check on the rescued prisoners, the woman frowned as she spotted the youngest paladin among the occupied pods, back to the door. "Pidge?" She called out to the green paladin, getting no response as sadness emanated from their small form, sitting on the floor with their head down hyper focused their laptop.

"Pidge?" Devine called a little louder, still no response as she walked into the eerily quiet room. Her bare feet softly padding across the cold floor as she crouched down next to Pidge, spotting the infamous photo of the paladin with her brother, the Kerberos ship in the background. 

"Katie." Devine called out worriedly, causing green paladin to jump in surprise before looking at the older woman, eyes wide and glossy with unshed tears behind the fake lenses.

"M-miss Devine!?" Pidge... Katie looked at her with surprise and fear.

"It's alright, I think only Shiro and I know who you really are, Miss Holt." Devine tried to assure the young girl with a small smile, but young paladin still looked frightened of her. "How... how do you know my name?" she asked fearfully as Devine hesitated before pulling out the carefully folded letter from her pant pocket, slightly creased from being hidden in her pocket for a while. Brown eyes locked on to the familiar scribble on the innocent looking white envelope, reading the familiar words...

_To my precious daughter,_

**_Katie ‘Pidgeon’ Sofa Holt_ **

The young girl stared at it for a moment in shock, before snatching the envelope away, quickly ripping it open and fearing what she might find in the letter written in her father's messy handwriting. Her full name along with the nickname her brother and father had given her when she was a toddler.

"This was meant to be a farewell letter, should he die before seeing you again, but... I think you could use it as a little proof that your father is still alive." Devine informed her enviously as Katie read the letter carefully, brown eyes tearing up more as she flipped through the several pages Dr. Holt had written to her. Devine resisted her curiosity and neither opened nor read the letters the he had written out of respect. Her chest constricting her breathing as she let the young girl before her cry silently.

"H-he's still alive?" Katie asked, trying to wipe away her tears, nudging the unnecessary glasses out of place. "Yes, and I can personally assure you that he safe from the clutches of the Galra." She reassured her, giving her a soft smile. Carefully pulling off her glasses to wipe away the tears that where still escaping her eyes. The imprint on the glasses where of loving, family related emotions, put there by both brother and sister, Devine still feeling traces of Matt’s quintessence in them.

"How can you say that?" Katie asked, as Devine chuckled in amusement. Replacing the glasses gently on her face, letting a white mist flow from her finger tips into the young girl’s head, brown eyes  turned white as she could no longer see the strange woman.

_Instead, Katie could see her father in Galra prison garb, looking terrified as he seemed to look right at her with his identical brown eyes behind rectangular frames. His hair was longer and unkept, a mustache and chin beard having grown on his face during the months he was gone. His back pressing to a wall, trapped in a Galra prison cell._

_When she blinked, Katie could now her father smiling, dressed in a strange white and blue coat, his hair cut, facial hair carefully trimmed, sitting down with a cup of coffee, smiling as he pushed four envelopes across the stark white table. Each one addressed to a family member and one with Shiro’s name written in sloppy kanji, a tanned arm with lavender nails reaching out and carefully picking them up_.

Upon blinking once more, the green paladin stared at the woman, who smiled at her knowingly.

"How else do you think I got those letters?" Devine asked, as she pulled her hands away from the shocked paladin, pulling back the sleeve of her jacket from her right arm, showing Katie her naturally tanned skin and lavender nails. Katie looked at her hands for a moment before tackling the woman to the ground in a desperate hug.

"Thank you." Katie uttered with relief as she burred her head into the older female’s upper chest, Devine laying on her back, ignoring the sharp tinge of pain before gently placing a kiss on the young girl’s head. The green paladin falling asleep listening to the woman’s heart beat and feeling her quintessence wrap around her like a warm blanket.

**_~Voltron~_ **

Devine smiled as she made her way out of Pidge’s room, putting her to bed after changing her out of her casual clothes and into some cute green pajamas with alien sheep on them. Being careful, she reached out to brush the other quintessence signatures inside the castle, Hunk, Lance, Keith where out like lights, Allura was still in the first stages of getting restful sleep, and Coran was almost vibrating as his quintessence shook slightly from his snoring.

A cold chill ran down her back as she reached out to feel Shiro’s quintessence, spiked with rising fear and panic. Worriedly, Devine quietly entered his room without knocking, spying the black paladin on the single bed, tossing and turning while fighting a former opponent in his nightmares. Slipping further into the room she walked over to the side of his bed before carefully calling out to him.

"Shiro? Shiro, wake up.” She called out his name carefully, frowning worriedly as she watched his face wrinkle in phantom pain.

“T-takashi?" Devine called out his given name hesitantly, but the Japanese paladin seemed to be in too deep a sleep to hear her, Shiro let out a sharp cry of pain that startled her into biting her lip in worry.

' _I could shock him... but that could make it worse... or... could slapping him help? Sorry, Shiro._ ' She thought remorsefully as she raised her right and smacked it across the sleeping paladin’s face.

“AGH!” Shiro’s cried out it shock and pain, gray eyes popping wide open, slightly glowing, as he bolted up from his bed, covered in a light sheen of sweat, panting heavy in shock from being woken so suddenly from the nightmare like memory. The fear that exploded from Shiro’s body, brought Devine to her knees from them over whelming emotion, almost blacking out as her eyes briefly turned blue before returning to their glowing gold color.

"D-devine! Are you okay?" Shiro asked, noticing her in his room as he tried to calm down, seeing her visibly shaking in the dark room. "Y-yeah, are you okay? I could feel you having a nightmare down the hall." She asked him, willing away the fear by taking a deep breath, slowly exhaling it in a wisp of blue mist that harmlessly dissipated into the air.

"Y-yeah, thanks for waking me." Shiro thanked her tiredly, feeling the sting of her slap on his left cheek, covering his eyes with his hand to rub the tiredness from his eyes. Devine panicky racked her brain for a good idea to help him with the nightmares that didn’t involve drugging him again.

"What... what was it about?" she asked cautiously, not getting up from the floor. She had an idea of what he had been dreaming about but wanted him to tell her to partly confirm her suspicions. Shiro was quiet for a while, Devine slowly got back on her feet, not wanting to startle the paladin anymore then he already was with any sudden movements. She let him gather his composure, almost expecting him to not answer her question and share his nightmare with her.

"I was... back with the Galra... fighting this massive alien." Shrio voiced tiredly, hand falling from his face, looking down and away from the woman, who still noticed the makings of bags under his eyes, even in the dark she noticed his need for restful sleep.

"What did it look like?" she asked carefully, Shiro's eye brows frowned in thought as he recalled his first opponent. "It had this strange orb on a stick for a weapon... and it was... throwing it at me..." he admitted to her, slowly recalling the image of the monstrous alien. The black paladin expected to feel terrified from the nightmare, but there was a wave of calm washing him gently. His gray eyes peeked at the woman next to him, her golden eyes glowing softly in the dark as she seemed to be looking at his right shoulder, slightly glad that he wore a light gray tank top to bed.

"Myzax, The Gladiator." She provided the name of the Alien warrior, Shiro looked at her in shock and surprise as the name fit into his memory somehow. "You... you know him?" he hesitantly, paling as a terrifying thought came to him as he looked at the woman hiding her scars with the jacket she always wore. "I've seen him fight in the arena before... well, not so much fight then..." she trailed off, half lying to him as she bit her lip. Thinking about how scared Matt had to have been, abducted by unfriendly aliens and forced to be sacrificed to the monstrous Myzax for pointless entertainment. Then Shiro seemingly turning on the young Holt, crying for blood as his friend injured him in an attempt to save him, risking his own life in the arena.

Devine could feel Shiro’s panic, making her eyes widen in worry, reaching out with her right hand to gently up his injured cheek. "I don't usually give spoilers but... you did beat him pretty soundly." She mentioned to him with a soft smile, hoping to relive his fear as he looked at her hand in confusion, cupping his cheek and glowing a soft lavender as the slight sting left his cheek. Shiro blushed as he looked at her, giving him a genial, slowly retracting her callused hand from his cheek. Something about it made him slowly relax before her let out a small chuckle, returning her smile.

"I would like to believe you. Even if you are lying." He teased lightly as he saw her eyes widen in disbelief before pouting rather cutely as she narrowed her eyes at him. "I am not lying, Shiro. If you don't believe me, maybe you could ask the prisoners you saved. Only... keep in mind that..." she tried to tell him, biting on her lip unsurely as Shiro saw her hesitation as she tried to think of the proper words. "They... they didn't see what really happened either, only you and Matt _really_ know what happened before the fight." She informed him sadly, shocking the black paladin as he stared at her in disbelief.

"How... how do you know that name?" Shiro asked, a bit nervous with her knowledge of certain things, even his given name. "I've met Dr. Holt. He... wasn't doing too well in the work camp, so we managed to get him out of the work camp safely." Devine confessed with a small smile, thinking of the eccentric scientist who was all too excited about meeting a _friendly_ alien, after his experience with the Galra, it was like a blessing to also be rescued by the friendly alien, only the commander was still weary around any Galra. 

"Where is he!? And Matt!? Are they okay? Are they okay?" Shiro asked desperately, grabing Devine's upper arms suddenly and pulling the woman into his bed rather forcefully. The paladin froze as he saw her cringe in pain, yellow sparks of fear pricking at his hands that had an unnecessarily tight grip on the woman, Shiro hearing something like bone cracking reached his ears.

"S-sorry. Are you okay?" he apologized, carefully removing his hands from her upper arms. His eyes traveling to her left arm that shook slightly. Devine carefully moved to sit on the edge of his bed, her right hand carefully placed over her upper left arm, right where Shiro’s Galra arm had grabbed her. The black paladin paled as he realized what he had done, only to become shocked as there was a lavender glow around Devine’s right hand. He stayed quiet as he watched the lavender glow, feeling himself calm down as the woman slowly flexed her fingers, not looking at him as she seemed to be healing her broken arm.

Neither said anything until the glowing stopped, Devine letting out a soft sigh of relief, letting her hand fall from her arm.

"Please... tell me they're alright... that they're safe..." Shiro begged her quietly, feeling guilty about hurting her with his galra arm, looking at it with shame as he pulled it as far away from her as he could. 

"Dr. Holt is in hiding, but he’s safely out of the Galra’s hands. You might even have trouble getting him back to Earth though.” Devine lightly joked, forcing a small smile as she felt Shiro’s guilt as he looked at her like a sad puppy she just wanted to kiss and cuddle. “As for Matt... I only know that he’s been busted out by a small rebel group.” She explained carefully, not wanting him to hound her for sources or more details, having said to much and done too little to try and find Matt. Not when Dr. Holt would be in the most danger if he was left in the work camp, along with the other scientists forced to create new weapons for the Galra Empire.

"That's good... thank you, and I'm sorry. Is there any way I could make it up to you?" Shiro asked nervously, watching as her furry ears perking up at the offer before giving a small twitch. Her golden eyes wide before they looked away, the black paladin almost seeing a few sparks of pink.

_'Can you just pet me, please~?'_

Shiro blinked in surprise at hearing her thoughts again, something telling him that it wasn’t Obsidian using the woman’s voice. He smiled as she bit her lip, preventing herself from making the request out loud before she let out a disappointed sigh. "Don't worry about it, just get some-ah~hha~." Devine was saying before she felt his left hand gently petting one of her fluffy ears. The feeling of the warm appendage slowly running along the shell of her ear, made her blush before it got to the sensitive base made her shiver with anticipation as the black paladin gave it a light scratch with his blunt finger nails. The combination disrupting her thoughts as she leaned into Shiro’s hand, purring blissfully at the strange and new sensation. Coming closer to the Japanese male too be able to wrap her arms around him as she cuddled into his chest affectionately.

' _Cute.'_ Shiro mused with a small blush, Devine barely registering his thoughts, not caring as he ran his hand over her ears for a few ticks. At some point pushing him back to lay on the bed, while Shiro’s blush deepened as she lay on top of him, purring softly even as he stopped petting her ears.

“ _Nyan_ ~ don’t stop~.” She begged selfishly as she nuzzled Shiro’s neck, making his blush darken but he still did as she asked. Her purring soothing the tense paladin as she didn’t so anything more then cuddle up to him, a lot like a cat.

Shiro smiled softly as he ran his hand threw her hair, he carefully pulled the thin blanket from between them so that it could cover them both, feeling Devine starting to fall asleep while purring contently. It was a soft noise that lulled the paladin to sleep, along with slightly heavy, but warm and soft body on top of him. It felt familiar, a strange scent reaching his nose, but the paladin couldn’t place what it was.

Both were drifted off to sleep, being pulled into a different world that resembled a savanna at night, five oddly colored Lioness approaching a vulnerable Devine.

**_~Voltron~_ **

Devine felt herself wake up slowly feeling herself cuddling something pleasantly firm and warm within making her less willing to get out of bed. _'Just a few more minutes with the-_ ' Devine's mind snapped into realization that the thing she was cuddling...was alive!

The scent of a thunder storm, sweat, and metal reaching her nose before she opened her eyes to an unfamiliar room, laying in an unfamiliar bed, with a very familiar quintessence physically pressed against her own. ' _SHIRO!?'_ she screamed internally as her heart hammered in her chest, disturbing the peacefully sleeping paladin for a moment as Devine internally panicked and blushing bright red as she sparked pink.

Shiro just rolled onto his left side, his Galra arm wrapping around her waist under the blanket they shared, pining Devine between his body and the wall that was inches from her back. Trying to keep calm she carefully she lifted his arm off her waist before floating off the bed, giving off pink sparks as she reluctantly slipped out of the black paladin’s arms. Part of her wanting to stay and cuddle with the sleep deprived Voltron leader for as long as she could, watching Shiro sleep for a moment as she hesitated with leaving.

Shiro's brow crinkled in confusion, searching for her warmth next to him even in his sleep, but he stopped searching as Devine pulled the blanket over his shoulder. Giving a quiet relived sigh she ran her fingers threw her messy white hair, quickly noticing two things. One: she was missing her favorite jacket again, and Two: Shiro’s hands had left dark purple bruises on her upper arms.

“ _Crud_.” She cursed quietly, looking around the room for the jacket, quickly giving up before just quietly leaving the room. Only to freeze in fear as she noticed Katie was up and in the hall way, a glare on her glasses hid mischievous eyes, but Devine could feel shock coming from the young girl.

"You saw _nothing_." Devine quietly hissed as the green paladin smirked in amusement.

"I don't know. Seems like it would be something to _share_ with the others~." The young girl mussed confidently, confusing Devine a little but she could feel the other's starting to wake up. "What do you want young _lady_?" the older woman asked in a low hiss, getting to the point.

"May I please pet your ears, _Mommy_ ~?" Katie asked politely, giving the woman some very cute puppy dog eyes. Devine felt her heart leap out of her chest at being called ' _Mommy'_ by someone she viewed as a child, a weakness only few knew of.

' _D-danm you, Doctor Holt!'_ she thought angrily before sighing in defeat.

"Fine, let me take a shower and dress first. Okay? Then I'll let you feel them as long as you keep your lips shut about this." She reasoned, as the green paladin thought it over before grinning. "About what?" Pidge asked innocently, as if she didn’t see the older woman sneaking out of Shiro’s room with messy hair, missing jacket, and bruises. Devine looked at the young paladin in surprise at the familiar phrase before smirking proudly.

"Good girl." Devine praised before disappearing into her designated room, Pidge felt pride in putting her father's information about the strange woman to good use... for herself.

**_~Voltron~_ **

Devine sighed as she brushed out her long white locks, avoiding her fluffy ears that now had pinkish stripes decorating the white fur as she looked at her own reflection staring back at her from the vanity mirror. Going with black slacks and a baggy lavender t-shirt with the phrase ‘ _Bite Me’_ written in an alien language, painted in a yellowish green color. Golden eyes glowing as they peered into the reflective surface, not recognizing the face that looked back at her, a stranger’s pale face looking back at her with dull brown eyes. Disturbed by creeping thoughts she turned away and nearly screamed, noticing Pidge standing only a foot away from her suddenly.

"Haven't you ever heard of knocking young lady!?" Devine nearly shouted in surprise as her stripes turned yellow, admitting a few sparks of the same color that arched across her skin. "I did, but you looked pretty distracted. I wanted to ask you about those crystals on your back and those scars. Shiro was thinking about it during our mind meld training. What happened to you~ _Mommy_?" Pidge asked as she looked at the woman with slight worry and curiosity.

Devine's heart pounded heavily in her chest at the title, as she didn’t want to explain her scars to an _outsider_ that seemed to be so mentally healthy.

"S-stop calling me _Mommy_. That's not gonna work every time if you keep it up like this.” Devine lied, and Pidge seemed to know it. “Those Crystals... are the result of some painful gene manipulation.” She admitted unsurely looking away from the green paladin, setting down the hair brush, trying calm down her racing heart, while also cursing the girl's father for writing about her little ' _quarks'_. She breathed calmly before looking back at Pidge. "You are to tell no one about what goes on in this or Shiro's room. Am I clear _Miss Holt_?" she instructed, narrowing her eyes at the girl who only grinned at the unintentional opening.

" _Crystal Clear_ ~." Pidge took the set up happily as she saw the woman give her that openly surprised look her father mentioned, taking it to mean she had stunned the woman into genuinely snorting before letting out a small chuckle of amusement.

"I walked right into that one, didn't I?" Devine asked, smiling at Pidge as the younger female was looking at the large furry appendages move, and the stripes change color, going from yellow, to blue, before turning pink. "Are they as soft as they look?" she asked as Devine slipped off the bench and onto the large fluffy white rug that took up half the room’s floor space.

“Come and find out for yourself.” The woman offred as the green paladin happily and carefully reached for the feline ears. Devine shivering at the small, cold hands but let the young girl pet her ears for a few moments as she plotted her revenge, purring as the green paladin’s feminine nails scratched behind her ears.

**_~Voltron~_ **

Four Paladins entered the main deck, fully dressed in their armor, ready for another day of fighting the Zarkon and the Galra Empire. The Alteans smiling proudly before the princess spoke to them.

"Now you are starting to look like true Paladians, but... where's Pidge?" Allura asked, confused as she did not see the smallest paladin.

"Eh? I saw him go into Devine's room before we left for a shower. I would have never thought he would go for an older chick, but her name isn't _divine_ for nothing am I right?" Lance voice as he nudged Shiro, who blushed lightly. The black paladin remembering that he had fallen asleep to Devine's purrs as he pet her. The strange tangy sweet scent, the soft warmth of another living body and slightly heavy weight on his chest had lulled him into an odd dream he already forgot. Waking up alone in bed with Devine’s jacket, proof that she had been in bed with him.

"I'll go see what they’re doing. We can still squeeze in some training before we have whatever is for lunch." Shiro announced, about to leave the main deck when Pidge ran into the room as a blur of green before tackling the black paladin.

"Shiro help me!" Pidge cried out fearfully as she clung onto him, stunning the whole room.

"Pidge! What's wrong? Did something happen?" the older paladin asked worriedly as he felt Pidge shake before lifting their head to look at him. Shiro was stunned speechless as he looked down at the green paladin. Pidge’s hair was pulled into two cute chestnut brown poufs on the side of her head, black lines streaking down her cheeks from the still fresh mascara on her darken lashes, a light dusting of some peal pink blush on her cheeks, and a soft yellow green colored lipstick ran messily across her full looking lips.

"Whoa, did you go through her make up or something?" Hunk asked, confused as the other paladins took in their comrades made up face.

“Why did you put on makeup?” Keith asked confused as Lance smirked at the easy opportunity. “You look like a girl. All you need now is a dress~.” He teased but small the small paladin pale in terror.

"No!” The green paladin yelled in destress as they quickly pulled her short hair out of the hair bands, ripping out a few strands of hair in the process.  “Miss Devine was putting this on me for petting her ears, but I saw her-" Pidge was interrupted as Devine walked, more like floated, into the room, looking to cheerful as she glowed softly with delight, her hands behind her back as she grinned widely.

" _Oh~_ _Pidgeon~_ why did you run off like that? Your nails are still wet, and I haven't even put the top coat on yet~." She practically sang as the older Paladins looked at Pidge's nails, seeing how they now matched to the coat of the green lion. "Shiro, make her stop!" Pidge pleaded, dunking behind the Japanese male for safety, the other's watched in amusement as their leader sighed, trying to suppress a small smile of amusement.

"Alright. Miss Devine, that's enough. Pidge is too young for make-up, and we have training to do." He reasoned with her as the woman giggled floating over to him in her enjoyment. Then flying over him to hang upside down behind the green paladin who gave a swak of surprise.

"Your gonna need these, Pidge." Devine mused cheerfully, pulling out Pidge's glasses and a bag of make-up remover wipes from behind her back. The young paladin took them quickly before getting rid of the make-up on her face urgently. The older woman flipping up right in the air, brushing her hair away from her grinning face.

"I'll go get lunch ready and leave you to your training." Devine mused as she let her bare feet touch the oddly warm floor, letting her mind wander as she left the room. ' _I wonder how the Arusians are doing. Hope they didn't get too scared from all the training.'_ She thought of the cuddly, snail like aliens that inhabited the planet, grabbing he favorite boots she left the castle and in the direction of the Aurian village.

**_~Voltron~_ **

"Hello? Anyone here?" Devine called out worriedly, walking into what seemed to be an abandoned village. Looking around with only her eyes she couldn’t see anyone, using her quintessence to create a low wave threw the ground, she could _feel_ them cower in fear in their little huts.

"It's okay! I come with word from the Lion Goddess!" she shouted with a tinge of guilt as got almost all of the Arusians to pop their heads out form their various hiding places with a few soft whispers spreading among those still hidden.

"The Lion Goddess? Her divine herald returns to us!" yelled one Arusian as the small creatures swarmed around Devine excitingly before the Chief came up to her, annoyance hidden behind his smile as he raised his hands in welcome.

"Oh! Devine herald~! What word has the _Lion Goddess_ sent you to deliver to us?" He asked as Devine gave him a cold smile, trying not to alarm any of the villagers. "The Lion Goddess apologizes for any fear or damage her awakening may have caused the _village_ and the people of Arus." She reported curtly, the chief smiling in confusion as news flooded threw the village.

"There is nothing to forgive; we praise the Lion Goddess for what she has given us threw her noble lions." The chief voiced, slightly nervous as he prompted several Arusians to come forward, each carrying baskets filled with food, cloth, toys, and even art.

"Please _Divine herald_ , deliver these gifts to her as our tribute for her protection." The chief asked with confidence, Devine looking down at the baskets before looking around at the villagers carefully. "Will giving this away negatively affect your village?" she asked, feeling some sadness and shock go threw out the village as the chief gasped.

"N-no Devine herald! The lions have given us a bountiful harvest, our women weaved the finest cloth that is worthy of touching divine feet, even toys and art offered by the young ones as well!" He exclaimed as the baskets where presented, to her one by one for inspection.

Some of the food she could take, seeing that all the Aruians where all well fed and healthy since the last time she visited them. Making a mental note to test them for their compatibility to be ingested by humans at least. There was a lot of cloth, while it wasn’t of poor quality, it wasn’t as luxurious as the cloth already in the castle's sewing room, but she could take to make her own little projects. Then came the toys, a small smile of amusement bloomed on her face as she saw the childish offerings before her eyes spotted familiar white hair from under another toy. 

Halting the Arusian carrying the basket, she plucked a familiar doll from under the other toys. The villagers froze in fear as they saw the doll's hair, looking identical to Devive’s white locks that shimmed with other colors in the Arusian sun.

The doll was made from scraps of fabric, each a different shade of brown stitched together neatly to from the body. Two yellow crystals for eyes gleamed back at the woman with its mouth stitched into a joyful smile. An off white cloth that was once a handkerchief was stitched together with lavender thread to crate a crude dress for the doll that held a hidden secret, making Devine’s eyes narrow in suspension.

"Who offered this doll?" she asked calmly, feeling the imprint of its true owner, but the woman could clearly remember who she had made it for.  A little Arusian girl was shoved before Devine, the chief frowned at her in disappointment, shaking his head. She looked scared as tears started to spill from her eyes, trembling before the doll was offered back to her, Devine giving an understanding smile.

"The Lion Goddess wishes for this to be returned, as she will not accept gifts that were forcibly taken from another." The little girl gasped as she took the doll back, giving it a relived hug.  "Thank you again, Miss Devine Herald." The little girl bowed to her before disappearing into the other villagers, away from the children who glared enviously at her.

"Please let the children keep their toys, their art will be enough to please the Prin-Lion Goddess." Devine corrected herself, trying to maintain the illusion she had unintentionally taken. "I will need your bravest warrior to come with me to meet the Goddess and her lions." She announced as the Arusians gasped in shock, all of them turning to look at Klyzap, who was frozen in shock along with his little sister who hugged her returned doll closer to her chest.

"As the Lion Goddess wishes!" the chief yelled as everyone cheered, except for Klyzap who was shaking in fear, holding his sister tighter before Devine approached them with a soft smile as she extended her hand to him.

**_~Voltron~_ **

"It's going to be okay Klyzap. The Lion goddess is nice and so are her lions. The only one that maybe a bit hostile is the red one, but he's not going to hurt you, I promise." Devine spoke to the frightened Arusian as he carried the papers that where children's art work, and she carried everything else as they were making their way to the castle.

"T-thank you Miss Devine Herald, I will protect you on your joinery back with my life! My sister also thanks you for returning her doll." The Arusian voiced feeling relived as his sister's only toy was returned, after some bullies took it in jealousy.

"No problem. I gave it to her as a gift, as much as I gave you that sword." Devine giggled as she noticed the dagger like sword at the Arusian’s hip. While it was made out of a jagged black stone it's sides and points where sharp, holding a smooth red sphere where the wooden hilt met the blade, the image of a roaring lion inside of it. The two continued to talk as they were unaware of being watched, three golden eyes and one red eye watched them get closer to the castle, before the Arusian stopped a few feet from the grand entrance.

Klyzap taking in the beautiful site, having only ever seen the castle in its dormant state, now it was alight with glowing teal panels along it’s pristine white exterior looking other worldly. Devine chuckled as she saw him fall onto his back trying to see the top of the castle, while in the distance she could see the paladin’s training. Lions coming together to from Voltron in a display of color before becoming this reality’s greatest symbol of hope.

Then there was a loud boom as the _Symbol of Hope_ lost its balance. Devine couldn’t help but burst out laughing at the amusing site, not holding back her amusement as she floated in the air with joy.

**_~Voltron~_ **

“This looks like a normal human lunch, right?” Devine asked her self as she looked at the what she had prepared for the humans so far from home. Several small golden yellow rolls made with the Arusiuans’ recipe, almost directly from the oven as they cooled on the counter. Some cooked, redish-brown oats topped with a few small berries and naturally edible orange flower petals in several bowls, several oval shaped slices of purplish meat that was cooked and seasoned to be consumable by humans, some scrambled mint green colored eggs, and freshly squeezed juice that was a light blue in color, and some pinkish colored tea prepared for the liberated prisoners.

“It almost looks like a rainbow.” She mussed before carefully arranging the rolls onto two large serving plates before leaving for the dinning room just as Coran’s nose lead him into the kitchen. “Ah ha! So this is the source of that captivating aroma.” The Altean eyed the rainbow of lunch with interest before getting an idea. “This is all nice and well but I think I can whip up something a little more hearty for the new paladins.” Coran grinned proudly before pressing several buttons on to goo dispenser.

**_~Voltron~_ **

"Great job training, guys. We're really getting the hang of forming Voltron." Shiro praised as he and his team walked into the dining room, having all worked up an appetite forming Voltron.

"Seriously, how far do you think my lion kicked that broken alien ship? Must have been like a mile!" Lance booted happily as he took a seat at the table which was already set for each paladin save for the food they could all smell in the kitchen. "Yeah, that'll come in _real_ handy when the Galra challenges Voltron to a soccer match." Keith added sarcastically as he took the seat next to Lance.

"Hey! I did something cool and you can't handle it. I get it." Lance smirked knowingly as the red paladin as he took off his helmet with a stylish move. "Your kick ruined our balance and we fell because of you, Lance." Keith accused with a slight glare at the other boy after removing his own helmet. "That falling part was Hunk's fault." Lance accused, pointing at his large friend on the other side of Keith. "Hey!" Hunk cried out in an accused tone, pulling off his helmet before grabbing one of the warm rolls on the table.

"All right, save your energy for fighting Zarkon." Shiro reasoned as he broke up the small fight between the three young men as he took off his own helmet, taking a seat at one end of the table, his nose picking up the smell of Devine's cooking when Hunk happily bit into one of the rolls.

“Oh~ so good. I wonder what Miss Devine’s cooking is as good as this.” The yellow paladin voiced as Lance and Keith curiously took a roll, taking a small bite before eagerly devouring the small morsel and reaching for another. “Hey, you two. Leave room for your actual lunch.” Shiro lightly scolded, taking a bun for himself and taking a curious bite. ' _DISGUSTING!'_ the Black paladin jumped at the sudden thought and wave distress coming over him, nearly choking on the bread before the kitchen doors opened, Coran walking in proudly with a covered dish.

"Ahoy, Young Paladins! How was the Voltron workout?" He asked cheerfully, setting the dish down on the table as Hunk drooled in anticipation of more of the woman’s food. "Good, is Miss. Devine okay?" Shiro asked unsurely as Coran seemed to puff his chest out in pride. "Of course, she just tried a bite of an Authentic, Ancient Paladin lunch! She was completely floored by its exotic taste." The Altean boasted as he removed the lid to expose his creation. The paladins cringed they saw what looked like more of green meteorite with tubes of yellow goo floating inside it.

The site of it alone made the paladin’s queasy when they heard the kitchen doors opened again,  Devine looking terrifying with her wide eyes turned yellow, elongated fanged teeth bared, her hands turned an unnatural blueish gray with her nails glowing a toxic purple color, an early black mist surrounding the woman as she glared at Coran, who seemed to pale at he looked at Devine in utter horror as she slowly approached the orange Altean.  

" _Coran_... you are here by **_BANNED_** from ever cooking **_ANYTHING_** , ever again." She hissed sternly as smokey gray lighting was added to the black mist, looking almost scary enough to give Zarkon nightmares.

**_"WHAT!"_** Coran squawked in shock, the younger paladin's cheered hesitantly, but Shiro looked at her worriedly as she took several deep breaths with her eyes closed, before the paladin got up to approach her slowly.

"Are you okay?" The eldest paladin asked, watching as the mist faded away before he got near enough to touch her, holding out his arms incase she fell from how much she was shaking. Devine nodded as her hands returned to normal slowly, closing her eyes as she covered her mouth uneasily. "I think... I got it out of my system,... but... I've lost my appetite." Devine told him, her voice scratchy before she walked over to _‘The Paladin Lunch’_ slamming the dome back over the culinary abomination forcefully without opening her eyes.

"I’ll have you know, this is packed with nutrients needed for healthy growing younglings. I've cooked for Princess Allura for years, and she's perfectly fine eating my cooking." Coran defended his cooking as Hunk grimaced as he noticed how pale Devine had turned as her head quickly with a sickening crack, eyes still yellow as the black mist returned.

"You serve that same foul-smelling concoction to your _princess_!?" she hissed, before coughing by the strain to her vocal cords, the mist quickly disappearing again.

"Of course! That's how you know it's healthy!" Coran boasted as he opened the lid, breathing in the smell like it was an assortment of flowers. Lance cringed as he held his nose and Keith placed his hands over his mouth and nose at the smell. "Coran, you just got me hooked on that goo and now you're switching it up?" Hunk asked as he crinkled his nose at the smelly dish. Devine slamming the lid back on it as she glared at Coran angrily, baring her teeth.

"If you _try_ and feed this to _any_ of them, I will leave you coated in salt, and tided down for wild Yalmors to lick _ALL_ your skin off. Am I clear?" she threatened as the Altean bolted to the other side of the room quickly in fear, the human paladins where confused yet relived at her very effective threat.  "R-right! No need to act like a mother Yalmor protecting her young." Coran shivered in fear as Devine sighed and took a seat in the nearest chair to groan painfully as her head hit the table.

"Coran, we're on a planet with fresh herbs, spices, and whatever else Miss Devine has found that we could eat." Hunk explained, getting another roll to bite into. "Now, if you'll excuse me. I'm going to head to the kitchen and spice things up. No office miss Devine but your cooking is a bit too _simple_." Hunk added as he got up to march to the kitchen before being stopped by the woman pulling seeming from her jacket pocket.

"Hunk, you'll want this." she held up a small yellow notebook, offering it to a confused Hunk as he opened it, eyes widening and sparking with happiness as he looked at her. "I translated it into your Human language, so it should be helpful with identifying the plants with room to take down your own notes." She sat up to give him a soft smile before the large paladin picked her suddenly into a massive hug. "Thank you, Miss Devine! I will put it to good use right now!" Hunk beamed as he let her go, dashing into the kitchen eagerly, missing Devine slap her hand over her mouth to keep her stomach down. Something about Altean space goo remined her of the seafood allergy she had back in her reality.

"Coran, are you and Allura almost done fixing the Castle so we can leave this planet?" Shiro asked, changing the subject as Coran pouted about his cooking. "I feel like we're sitting ducks here on Arus."

"Hmm, just about. In the meantime, try to get your minds off those duck seats you're so worried about." Coran suggested as the black paladin noticed they were short one Pidge. "Where's Pidge?" Shiro asked as he was sure Devine was alright. "Checking on the rescued prisoners in the infirmary again." She informed him, feeling the youngest paladin a few levels away, having tested her sensory limits to stretch at least a mile away from her center, corrupted quintessence slightly limiting her ability.

"Yes, they should all be waking up soon." Coran agreed and tried one last time to get the Paladins to eat his cooking.

"Open the hatch, food lion coming in!" Coran got a spoon full of the goo, imitating the pretend airplane parents often used with babies or toddlers, on Shiro. While according to the human calendar he was technically the youngest paladin at age 6, he was also the oldest at age 25. Devine snorted in amusement at Coran's attempt being up that small fact, Lance and Keith also shared her amusement but Shiro was not impressed as the smell reached his nose, fully understanding Devine's harsh reaction to it.

"No. Just... no." The paladin responded firmly before backing away slowly from the Altean to escape from being force feed. "Shiro there's a tray of warm tea in the kitchen, could you take it to the infirmary for our guests? I'm sure there still plenty scared but tell them it's from ' _The Healer'_. They'll understand." She helpfully subjected as Shiro seemed relived for the excuse,  but was a bit confused by the strange title she had mentioned as he left.

' _The Healer?'_

**_~Voltron~_ **

Hunk happily rushed back into the dining room with the lunch Devine had originally made for them long with more food that looked and smelled very appetizing. Placing one of his concoctions in front of Devine who blinked in surprise. Even if she knew he was a good cook in the first place, she wasn't hungry after Coran's abomination assaulted her taste buds. Lance and Keith where practically drooling over their plates, ready to dig in, but were stopped by Hunk as he gave them a firm glare.

"Hold up! Miss Devine gets first bite, since she saved us from Coran's cooking." He reasoned, making the other two paladins pout but wait for Devine to take the first bite.

"You boys can go ahead and eat; I don't think my stomach can handle anything right now." Devine explained, trying not to remember how bad it tasted before she quickly swallowed it, and actually tasting better as her body forcefully retched it as soon as Coran left the kitchen.

"All the more reason for you to eat Miss Devine~. I used some herbs for soothing tummy aches in this one just for you." Hunk beamed happily pushing a plate of sweet smelling food closer to her. Devine was unsure of what to do other then try a bite of the large paladin’s creation, but she couldn’t force her self to eat so soon after the violent wave of nausea. Hunk picking up a spoon and held it up to her lips temptingly, giving her an adorable pout with his pleading chocolate brown eyes reminded her strongly of an adorable yellow tabby cat.

" _Please~_?" he asked innocently, as Devine felt a sharp pang in her heart as she opened her mouth in shock, only for the yellow paladin to insert the thoughtful meal before she closed her mouth, her eyes widening in surprise at the flavors hitting her taste buds.

"Well?" Hunk asked, looking excited as he watched as pink sparks, arching into little pink hearts as Devine froze as she tried to measure her response to the yellow paladin’s meal. "Doesn't that usually happen around Shiro?" Lance questioned in confusion before the woman pulled the spoon from her mouth and swallowed the food.

"It's _wonderful_ ~, Hunk." Devine smiled with honestly as her stomach begged for more loudly, making her blush with embarrassment, and Hunk beamed with pride. "Thank you. Now you guys can dig in." as soon as Hunk gave them the go ahead, Keith and Lance practically inhaled their lunch as if they hadn't eaten in two days, stuffing their faces with it.

Devine chuckled at their appreciation for Hunk's cooking, the yellow paladin's own confidence and happiness was refreshing to feel after so much worry and panic was coming from him before. It eased her mind and stomach enough to finish the food and some of what Hunk had lovingly prepared, just at a slower pace than the two young paladins, his emotions having leaked into the food in a way she didn’t often feel in any reality...

The love for friend.

The only dark cloud in the room was Coran sulking in the corner when the princess walked in for lunch. "They like the paladin lunch!" Allura responded happily watching Keith and Lance wolf down the food, Devine eating with them at a more polite speed as she sparked small pink hearts with everybite.

"I don't want to talk about it." Coran huffed, holding his head up with his arms crossed, confusion the princess before she shared the good news. "Any way, I just got the final nebulon booster working. So we should be able to leave Planet Arus tomorrow and take the fight to Zarkon." Allura told them her grin widening in excitement before the alarms rang and red lights flashed in warning.

The Pladian's stood up, ready to get to their Lions, Lance slurping up the noodles in his mouth as Allura waved her hand to bring up a holographic screen that showed the outside of the castel, Klyzap trying to be _stealthy_ as he approached the doors, hiding behind rocks and bushes as well as he could. "What is that?" Keith asked in confusion as Klyzap yelled, his sword at the ready as the gem embedded in it glowed softly. "I don't know what it is. Maybe it's a local Arusian." Allura guessed, as they stared at the screen watching him pop in and out of view cutely.

"His name is Klyzap, he's the bravest and only warrior in the nearby village of Arusians." Devine informed them as she finished her food before pulling out stacks of childish drawings form a bag she had left under the dining room table. "They are the ones who gave me this in tribute to Voltron." She told them before pulling out a random piece of art work to show them.

It was a rather childish drawing of Voltron battling the Galra battleship, and Devine could feel the excitement and admiration the child put into it. "Well you are our liaison, so nice liaisoning." Lance commented as he smiled at her looking threw more art work and pulling out one of the blue lion that seemed to be well drawn and detailed.

"Ohh~! Can I have this one?" he asked grinning with glee as she nodded. "Sure, we can go to the village so be sure to tell them you like their work." She mused pulling out more to show the others, Hunk's eyes glittering at the strong image of Topaz plowing the dirt, and Keith glanced at the image of Ruby prancing around in the fire.

"He's so cute with his little dagger~" Hunk gushed at Klyzap who poked his head out to check for hostiles. "Doesn't look too dangerous." Lance mussed as Keith summoned his bayard, suspicious of an attack. "You never know."

"But he's adorable." Hunk chuckled at the red paladin before Lance chimed in. "Hey, maybe we can knit him a little sweater!" he joked in amusement. "No Keith. Alteans believe in peace first, so let's go and welcome him to the castle." Allura looked worriedly at Keith. "I'm not taking any chances. Not with that weird glow on his weapon." The red paladin said stubbornly as they all went to go greet their guest.

"It's alright Keith, I gave it to him, as a kind of symbol of friendship. Besides he barely knows how to use it, and you two are about the same age really." Devine told Keith who didn't look convinced.

"Did you make it into a sword too?" he asked scoffing before he stumbled a little in surprise, feeling his hip get bumped by the woman beside him. "I did, so relax. The Arusians are primitive but peaceful people. No need to cause a fuss out of nothing. Right?" She asked, smiling at him before they made it to the castle doors. Devine biting her lip as she thought of the outcome she was familiar with and the truths she now knew about the Arusian king.

**_~Voltron~_ **

"Greetings, brave warrior Kylzap. We know you're there." Allura stated in a friendly tone as the Arusian was hiding in a bush, feeling scared as the princess looked to Devine for guidance, but the woman simply stood next to her.

"Kylzap? It's okay, please come greet the Lion Goddess and her Lion Paladins. She has been waiting to meet you." Devine smiled at her friend encouragingly. Klyzap poked his head carefully out of his hiding place with a small blush of embarrassment, before narrowing his eyes at Keith who was glaring at him. Jumping out of the bush the Arusian banished his crude weapon at the red paladin, trying to look intimidating.

"Aw~" Hunk cooed at the little creature who was trembled slightly in fear.

"Drop your weapon!" Keith yelled, jumping in front of the two females with is bayard brandished against the little creature. "No one takes Kylzap's special weapon!" The Arusain yelled, pointing it at the red paladin, even as he shook in fear of the larger creatures that outnumbered him. "Keith, put that away!" Allura ordered in shock as Devine pulled Keith back by the ear.

"Put your Bayard away Keith. Kylzap is a friend of mine." She scolded him, letting go of his ear as his weapon retracted in favor of cupping his injured ear. Devine then approached the Arusian who still had his eyes on Keith, weary of the strangers with her. "He is the red one you spoke of Devine herald?" Klyzap asked as she smiled and nodded in confirmation. "Yes, he is. Now allow me to share their names with you then." Devine said calmly as he lowered his weapon, eyes landing on the other dark haired and tanned female, looked at her with surprised wide eyes before bowing low to the ground before Allura.

"No! Kylzap is not worthy! He is a bad follower of the Lion Goddess for abandoning her Devine herald!" he yelled shamefully as Devine gently pat his head in reassurance.

"Devine herald?" Coran questioned with an eye brow raised. "Lion Goddess?" Hunk asked with a confused blink as Devine pulled back some moss to show them the carving on the rock, depicting a woman with a lion's head wielding a sword was carved deep into its surface.

"The Lion Goddess. According to their ancient tales, she protected them from invaders long ago, before being split up into five pieces. Four of which left Arus to protect other worlds, her head remained on Arus and was set to sleep inside the castle until she was needed again." Devine briefly explained the over all story, having learned many stories involving _‘The Lion Goddess’_ , before pointing at herself. "I introduced myself as Devine, the herald of The Lion Goddess but they kinda... just thought I was divinity too." She confessed sheepishly as Allura looked curiously at the Arusian.

"What makes you think you're not worthy of sharing our names with you?" Allura asked looking down at the creature that still had his head bowed in respect.

"Destruction was everywhere. In the past few sun's, fire and ice has rained from the heavens, a giant winged beast flew overhead, an entire forest re-grew from nothing!" Kylzap exclamed, gesturing with his hands to the Lion's training space before glancing at Devine. "And Kylzap… ran in fear from a fallen giant. Abandoning the Devine herald." He admitted guilt fully, as the rest of them processed the new information.

"I think he's talking about Voltron." Hunk whispered to the others

"Yeah, I think we all got that." Lance broke it to his friend.

"But you came back, didn't you?" Allura asked the Arusian who nodded. "Y-yes, the Devine herald has been nothing but kind to Klyzap and Moontow, even giving us gifts for nothing in return." Kylzip informed as he held up his little sword again. Letting the smooth red stone glow in the light as the dark red lion insignia could be seen inside it.

"Then please, bravest warrior, take us to your village so that we may meet our neighbors." Allura asked softly as Kylzip looked at her with amazed wide eyes.

"What about our mission to get off this planet and fight Zarkon?" Keith asked, not too happy about their launch being delayed. "Part of the paladins' mission is to spread peace and diplomacy. Arus has been our host for 10,000 years. These people deserve our thanks for sharing their world with us for so long." Allura explained to him before smiling fondly.

"My mother always told me to do things right, not quickly. You make fewer mistakes that way." The princess mussed fondly as the red paladin still looked unsatisfied as her huffed. "Fine, I'm going to be on the training deck." He huffed, about to walk back into the castle before Devine spoke up.

"You’re coming too Keith." She said sternly, making him stop in his tracks and look at her confused. "What? Why?" He questioned before she grabbed his hand in an abnormally strong grip that she could nearly drag him into his lion.

**_~Voltron~_ **

"So how long have you been held captive by Zarkon?" Pidge asked one of the aliens, each one having emerged from the healing pods fearfully, before realizing they were safe upon seeing Shiro and little Pidge. Their shoulders wrapped in warm blankets and being given the welcomed pink tea Devine had prepared for them.

"Some for years... others decades. It's hard to tell as time becomes a blur." The gray alien said forlornly, cupping his tea in his cold hands to warm them up. The others doing the same, a few taking small sips of the liquid, Shiro helping the last one from the pod and handing the orange alien the last tea cup.

"Then you must have been there when my dad and brother arrived. Sam and Matt Holt?" Pidge asked hopefully, wondering what and where her missing family member's where. "I never knew their names, but I certainly remember the other two earthlings that arrived with Champion." The gray alien told her, looking over at Shiro who was confused by the unfamiliar title.

" _Champion_? Why do you keep calling me that?" he asked, genuinely confused much to their disbelief. "You really don't remember? Unbelievable..." The gray alien sighed with a slight huff as the other's looked at him pleadingly. "You were a legendary gladiator, undefeated in the ring... you defeated the infamous Galra gladiator, **_Myzax_**." He informed him, the black paladin only recognized the name from Devine the night before, his eyes widen as he realized she had been telling him the truth! "That was the day you earned the name Champion." The alien smiled, thinking Shiro was remembering his victories. "I was there, as was the young earthling. We were all prisoners forced to fight for the entertainment of **_Zarkon_**." He and the others shivered at the name but still looked hopeful.

"That day you were set to fight Myzax, a vile beast many thought could never be defeated. We would have inevitably been slaughtered against that monster. Not even **_The Healer_** could save us from a painful death." He mentioned, Shiro growing more curious along with Pidge, but stayed quiet as the alien continued. "This, Matt, was the first of us set to fight, but fate had other plans... you were so thirsty for blood... you injured your fellow earthling." He informed Shiro, shock and horror flowing through his body as more of Devine's words came to mind.

"You attacked my brother? Why?" Pidge asked, glaring at Shiro, feeling betrayed as he looked confused and shocked, not able to recall more from his lost memories. "No... It can't be true. Devine said they don't know what really happened, Pidge. That only Matt and I know the _real_ truth of what happened." He tried to reason with the young paladin, who didn't look convinced by his words, and neither did the Alien informing them of what had transpired. "I was there, we all were. Who is this _Devine_ you speak of? What makes them think we do not know what happened before our very eyes?" he asked, looking insulted as Shiro was also confused about the woman’s information about himself and his friend.

"She's... our liaison, and also the one made this tea for all of you. She told me to say it was from, _The Healer_?" he informed them unsurely, making them all gasp, eyes widened looking at the tea in reverence now.

" ** _The Healer_**? She is here as well? _Alive_?" he asked, looking very shocked and happy as Pidge and Shiro looked at each other in confusion. "Yes?" Pidge answered as the aliens visibly relaxed. "This is wonderful! **_The Healer_** and **_The Champion_**! Together in one place again! Zarkon surely stands no chance now." He mused looking excited as the others started to whisper franticly to one another, before Shiro spoke up.

"Hold on! What are you talking about? Was Miss Devine with you too?" He asked, wondering if that was where the woman got her scars. A cold chill running threw his body as he thought of the empath being anywhere near a Galra prison, let alone forced into a cell, to feel all the negative emotions from the other prisoners and Galra.

"She was a druid. One that would infrequently venture into the prisons, healing a few captives behind the back of the Galra guards, able to make the sentries do her bidding with a wave of a hand. She was searching for something, or rather... searching for you, Champion." The alien informed, looking up at the shocked paladin.

"What makes you say that?" Pidge asked, curious as the alien drank some of the pink tea slowly before answering, a small smile on his lips. "At first it seemed like a delusion. Druids in the prisons are not normally a good sign... this one however, was healing a few, very lucky captives for what seemed to be once a phoeb. It wasn't until after you defeated Myzax, that she started to appear for every one of your matches. Healing your every wound until-" the alien stopped, looked at Shiro's right arm.

"Until I lost my arm." He concluded, clenched his prosthetic fist that felt like his own limb, but wasn’t at the same time. The gray alien nodded seriously. "Yes... Sshe could only stop you from bleeding out in the arena, even cutting off the arm of the Galra commander who took  it from you. Before Zarkon himself intervened..." He told them, Shiro shivering from the feeling of absolute terror spreading threw out his body at the emperor’s name. A blurry image of something glowing a familiar bright white and purple above him came to mind, leaving him more confused about the history he had with the woman.

"After my brother was injured, where was he taken?" Pidge asked hopefully, trying to get information about her missing sibling, but the alien was quiet for a moment, giving the green paladin a sympathetic frown. "I know not..." he confessed as Shiro realized something.

"That ship we were held captive on. It crash landed on this planet, it should have logs of prisoners, some information about Matt and Commander Holt." Shiro reasoned as he felt himself become even colder, walking out of the infirmary briskly to find the ship wreckage. "Wait! I'm coming with you!" Pridge cried out and followed him out of the room as the group of aliens drank their tea, softly discussing their uncertain future.

**_~Voltron~_ **

"Stop your pouting Keith. It wouldn't hurt you to become a bit more diplomatic." Devine hinted as she was inside Ruby with him, Allura having decided to take three of the five the lions to meet with the Arusians as soon as possible and to show them the Lions up close. Allura and Coran where with Hunk inside Topaz, and Lance lagged a bit behind pouting about being by himself with Sapphire.

"I'm not pouting." Keith corrected, looking annoyed as Kylzap was staring at him oddly, irritating the teen. "What?" he snapped, looking down at the Arusian who blinked at him in confusion. "You are one with this beast?" he asked as Keith raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?" the red paladin answered unsurely as he heard Ruby growl at being called a beast.

"She likes to be called Ruby, but I like Red better." Keith told him as he felt Ruby purr and then Devine touched his shoulder, giggling. _'I love both names, my Paladin~. I want to keep them~.'_ Keith heard Ruby whine as he looked at Devine before down at the Arusian village where they landed half a mile away to avoid blowing away any huts.

Once in the village the where greeted happily by many of the cute little Arusians before the king stepped forward, all of them looking very happy. "Oh! Great and beautiful Lion Goddess, I am the King of the Arusians. We are both grateful and honored to have you grace our village with your blessings. Please accept our new _Dance of Divinity_ your divine Harold has taught our young dancers!" the King announced happily as he clapped his hands, signaling for three young Arusians to approach, each holding a stick with some ribbon attached to the end. Devine blinked in surprise but smiled as the familiar Arusian girl waved happily at her. The music started and the three started the dance, all while feeling the confused stares of team Voltron.

" _Hoorah!"_ The Arusians cheered as the drummers started with a powerful rhythm as the girls threw the multi colored ribbons into the air before catching them and making the ribbons flutter in circles above their heads, then to their right, before jumping threw them and spinning them on the opposite side as they tried to balance on one foot. Devine noticed the malice form one of the other dancers as the stick from her ribbon smacked the other girl in the face. "Ouch!" she cried out before falling to the ground, dropping her ribbon that made the villagers gasp in horror.

"Moontow, are you alright?" Devine asked as she approached the little girl who trembled in fear as she looked up at the older woman. Tears in her eyes as the king frowned at her mistake. "Please, there's no need for this." Allura tried to be modest and friendly, and not be worshiped  by the primitive beings, the king nodded solemnly as Devine sparked yellow from what would come next, kneeling down to let the Arusian cling to her.

"The Goddess has been displeased. Start the sacrificial fire, we must throw ourselves in!" The king shouted before pointing at Moontow who clung to Devine tightly. "Starting with the ruiner Moontow!" Allara eyes widen in shock as the Arusian's lit a large fire, Mootow clung to Devine for dear life as she cried loudly.

" ** _NO! No Sacrifices!"_** Allura and Devine yelled out as the older woman hugged the crying Arusian protectively, growling at the king for even suggesting it, before delivering the excuse she had come up with for this moment.

"What the goddess means is that, your happiness and wellbeing are her greatest joy. The Dance of Divinity is not meant to be performed perfectly by mere, mortal children." Devine explained, as the king narrowed his eyes at her, but the other arusians seemed to understand that reasoning, putting out the sacrificial fire.

"Then will the Divine herald proceed with the dance?" the king asked, Moontow was confused as she heard Devine's heart beat loudly in her chest before the sighed nervously. "O-of course. I would be delighted to." Devine swallowed down her fear and embarrassment, the made-up ribbon dance she did one night was coming back to haunt her.

"Yes, that's a much better alternative." Allura agreed as she looked at Devine who pulled out a longer stick with a ribbon attached to it, looking nervous as yellow sparked across her body.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly let it out as she walked to the area they had cleared for the dancers, stepping back a bit as Devine was a bit taller than three Arusan children. The drummers started up again as Devine twirled the stick; the ribbion that looked white at first was actually shimmering with color in the sun light. Like the children before her she twirled the ribbon it a circle before gracefully jumping threw it, switching the stick to her other hand and spinning it in a circle only it took on one color... lavender.

"Are you guys seeing this?" Hunk asked as Devine twirled the ribbon over her head as she twirled on one foot like a ballerina, the tip of the ribbon igniting with lavender fire, making everyone gasp a she incased herself in a fiery cone before making a series of quick spins and jumps that had everyone staring in awe.

"How does her hair not catch fire?" Lance noticed as the flames had licked at her white locks but didn't burn them before Devine grabbed the tip of the stick between two fingers before sliding them over the still burning ribbon, transferring the fire to her hand, but it didn't seem to hurt her skin either. Cupping the fire in both hands tenderly, she brought it to her lips as she gave the flickering purple flames a gentle blow as they grew before turning into lavender sparkles that filled the air before she tossed the rest in the air freely before giving a deep bow, the Arusian's following suit.

"O-oh, my! Please, please, rise. Thank you for that, but I am not a great being worthy of your worship." Allura strutted, an over whelming feeling coursing through her body she wasn't familiar with. "I accidentally put you all in danger, I should be apologizing, not be worshiped. I am Princess Allura and these are the Paladins of Voltron. Although we originally came from different worlds...and have very, very, very different traditions, we wish to live alongside you as friends." The princess tried to reason; nervous without her father there to guide her threw the diplomatic talks.

"But the Robotic Angel... and the Divine herald are they not signs of your godliness? Of your blessing and wrath?" The king asked, pretending to be confused, Devine becoming slightly irritated with the princess confusing the Arsuains even more.

"Voltron? No. In fact, that mighty robot is here to protect you." The princess explained, as she felt more confident suddenly. "Let it be known that Voltron will protect every innocent being throughout the universe!" Allura announced in a proud and hopeful tone, the Arusian's cheered, welcoming their new protectors with open arms and hugs. Devine smiled as they were practically covered in arusians hugs. Moontow hugged her happily this time, along with three other smaller Aruains that seemed too young to know about Moontow and her brother.

Giving a soft chuckle Devine hugged them back, the little arusians giggling from the pink sparks she admitted, positive emotions feeling wonderful... but there was still one dark little cloud among all the sunshine.

"Is something wrong Keith?" She asked worriedly, looking up at red paladin who was just watching the hug fest nervously, yet it seem a part of him wanted to be included.

"I... just don't hug strangers." He admitted to her, looking away before she smiled and detached the little arusians from herself reluctantly. Walking over to the sulking Paladin before wrapping her arms around his waist, hugging him from behind. Keith blushed bright red at sudden hug as he felt the woman’s large assets pressing into him with a strange warmth and softness.  

"W-what are you doing?" Keith asked nervously, becoming afraid to move as he saw her smile from the corner of his eye, resting her chin over his right shoulder with little difficulty as they were the same height. "You said you don't hug strangers, but I'm not a stranger to you right?" she mused with a smirk as Keith was approached by Moontow and the three little ones.

“Hello Mr. Red Lion tamer. I am Moontow, and these are Uno, Dos, and Cuatro. Does that mean we can hug you too?” Moontow asked excitedly as the paladin looked confused. “Well they’re not strangers anymore, right?” Devine mussed as Keith looked unsure of being hugged by more ‘ _strangers’_ but he didn’t get to respond as the Arusians happy hug him anyway.

"Um? Wow... you guys sure are cuddly." Keith noticed as he placed a hand awkwardly on the small Arusian’s head, a bit of joy bursting from its body. "Thank you." The Arusian voice was deep like a male, making Keith's eyes widen in unexpected shock. Devine couldn't help but chuckle at the young paladin's confusion and enjoyment of so many hugs.

Only her mirth vanish as a dark chill ran through her scenes like a sharp blade.

' _Corrupted quintessence.'_ She thought fearfully as she looked up into the sky... dread washing over her as the Robeast coffin entered the atmosphere.

"Miss Devine?" Keith called to her, confused as he felt her hold on him tighten after hearing her voice in his mind, his eyes looking up into the sky in worry. "What is that?" He asked her but Shiro's voice came over on their com links.

_" **Team come in! We need backup now!**_ **"**

"What's going on?" Keith asked worriedly Devine being close enough to hear the older Paladin's voice from his com but a loud rumbling sound and shaking ground answered his question.

"Myzax?" Devine questioned, slightly hoping it was Shiro's first opponent and not some other ro-beast Haggar had created instead.

"Oh no. We've got to get back to our lions!" Keith shouted as he broke away from Devine's hug as the Arusian's started to panic. "Everyone get inside and stay down!" Allura directed as she and Coran herded the Arusians into a safer area.

"I'm on it!" Hunk yelled as he joined the evacuation only for Devine to step in front of him, with a disapproving look. "Hunk. Get into Topaz, Voltron is needed again." She told him as he looked scared, only for Keith to grab the collar of his yellow paladin armor, making Hunk cry tears of fear and frustration.

**_~Voltron~_ **

Devine could feel her heart hammering in her chest as she helplessly watched Votron getting pummeled by the ro-beast. Allura, Coran, and the whole village of Arusians where in the caves on the outskirts of the village. Their fear not helping the empath’s concentration as she tried to give them some calm, but the vast amount of corrupted quintessence being so close made it painful.

"Shiro, please remember..." she pled, watching Voltron nearly destroy the village in its fall before narrowly avoiding that situation. "You can do this... just remember." She pleaded, pressing a hand over her hammering heart, unaware of the crystals on her back glowing threw her shirt. A few Arusians looked at her in aww and confusion at the glowing wing like pattern, Coran and Allura to occupied by the Arusian’s king to pay it any attention to her.

"You've beaten him before, you can do it again. _Please_ remember..." she pleaded, closing her eyes as she tried to reach out to Shiro threw Obsidian. Only to get a vision of the orb heading right for her face and hit her on the chin.

_"AGH!"_ Devine cried out in surprise as she found herself on the cave floor with dozens of worried Arusians gathered around her. "Are you alright Devine Herald?" Kylzap asked looking at her worriedly, his sister holding her doll to her chest behind him. "Y-yeah, just lost balance there for a bit." She assured him, slowly sitting up as she looked at the entrance, no longer able to see Voltron or the ro-beast.

"Shiro, _please remember_." She pleaded as her ember eyes glowed in the dark cave along with the crystals on her back.

**_~Voltron~_ **

' _... please remember'_ Shiro heard Devine's voice in his head, telling him to remember something, but he didn't know what he needed to remember only seeing clear a vision from his dream, the sound from the orb triggering something in his memory.

"That sound...I-i _remember_ this monster, from Zarkon's prison. I know how to beat him!" Shiro realized feeling his lion purr softly, dogged the incoming attack just in time. "Listen! There's a loud sound when the orb returns to the base of the weapon, and every third time, that orb needs to charge up. That's this monster's weak point and our time to strike." He informed his team with determination.

"Okay, so what do we do in the meantime?" Hunk asked nervously as they watched the orb charge up. "Defense!" Shiro shouted as the orb headed towards Voltron again. "Pidge, we need that shield!" He yelled as Voltron lifting his left arm in time to deflect the orb, everyone groaned at the force behind it, the orb returning to the ro-beast before rounding back at them.

"That's one. Two more to go!" Shiro shouted with determination, slowly remembering his fight with Myzax, but he was also seeing another's memories. Seeing himself fighting Myzax in the arena from a far, but not from the stands.

The orb came at them again and smashed into the shield, Voltron skidded across the ground from the force. "We can't take much more!" Hunk yelled as Votron shook around them and the orb rebounded against the shield for a second time. "Last one! Everyone brace for impact!" Shiro warned, the orb hit the shield for a third time, causing it to break apart. Voltron kneeling as the two parts of the shields landed at its sides, the orb returned to _recharge_.

"Now!" Shiro yelled as the Red Lion arm was thrust forward to a powerful laser blast, hitting the monster directly in the chest, creating a large dust cloud around it. Seeming defeated but as the smoke cleared, the monster stood back up seemingly unharmed by the attack.

"It didn't work!" Pidge cried out in dread as the other Paladians started to become fearful. "So now what?" Lance asked nervously as the newly charged orb hit Voltron, making the robot fall into its back. Shiro got the image of himself being pushed back, desperately gripping something that looked like a sword, a phantom pain shooting threw his right arm and going up to his shoulder blade.

"When I attacked it before, I had a sword." Shiro told them, suppressing the sudden pain before Hunk shouted urgently.

"Orb! Orb!"

He warned, but it was too late. Voltron was slammed into the dirt by the orb once again before it returned to the robot ready to strike again. "We can't take another shot like that!" Pidge informed them. Keith felt a strange warm sensation flow threw his body into his right arm, as the Bayard slot opened in front of him. "Guys! I think my lion's telling me what to do." He told them, remembering what happened with Devine.

"Well whatever it is, better do it fast! He's about to fire his third shot." Lance exclaimed as the orb came back, Voltron put up its arms to block to take the hit but was knocked over the small mountains, jolting the paladins inside.

Voltron slowly stood back up as the Robeast charged at them, leaping into the air with the orb ready to finish them off. Keith slammed his Bayard into the console and turned, a warm feeling flowing through each Paladin's right arm.

Ruby and Peridot's heads slammed together as a light shined between their fangs. Ruby unsheathing a sword sliver and lavender blade form Peridot's mouth. Then in one quick movement, the blade sliced through the robeast as it was still in midair, within a flash the robeast landed behind Voltron, sparking dark purple along where it had been cut before exploding form the fatal blow.

**_~Voltron~_ **

"YES! VOLTRON SAVES THE DAY AGAIN!" Devine shouted suddenly, raising a fist into the air in excitement. The Arusians looked at her in startled confusion, before hearing the distant explosion, turning to see smoke from a distance, and Voltron standing victoriously as they gasped in amazement.

Allura and Coran looked at her and the each other in a silent conversation, looking confused and worried about what they were seeing on the woman’s back.

A glowing white emblem of Voltron.

**_~Voltron~_ **

"Here are the coordinates to a nearby refugee camp where you'll be safe. From there they should be able help you find your families." Devine smiled at the gray alien who looked at her in reverence, she could also feel the other's giving off positive emotions upon finally meeting her without the druid disguise. The empath couldn't help but greedily drink the emotions in as she handed over the coordinates to a well-hidden refugee camp. She tried to keep such information to help reunite families, help out a few rebels, and put the _irrelevant_ data the Blade of Marmora collected to good use.

"Thank you, _Healer_. We cannot even begin to repay your kindness." He said with a smile bowing low to her and the others who allowed her to speak with them.

"Please, just get back to your loved ones safely. I'm sure your wife and children will be more than happy to have you back Mr. Xi." She mentioned with a smirk, seeing the gray Alien, Xi, looking at her with open mouth shock as the other's gasped loudly as she addressed Xi by name.

"I- i... am a father?" he questioned as the others seemed excited at the news. "Is it a boy, or maybe a girl?" he asked nervously, looking Devine in the eyes for the answer, the empath only smiled, putting a finger to her lips and winking mischievously.

" _No spoilers~,_ you will just have to see for yourself Mr. Xi." she teased as he laughed softly, happy tears coming to his eyes.

"Thank you, for everything. We never dreamed we'd see our families again... but you gave us all hope. You gave the universe hope." He said before boarding the Altean escape pod that was more like a small ship.

The others walked away after the ship left the Castel walls, but Devine watched the pod until it left the atmosphere standing outside with her back pressed into the castle’s exterior as she looked up, thinking about Xi words taking a deep breath, raising her right fist to the stars.

" _In fearful day, in raging night._

_With strong hearts full, our souls ignite._

_When all seems lost in the war of light._

_Look to the stars, for hope burns bright."_

Devine recited the Blue Lantern oath by heart, softly laughing as she felt nothing but clam wash over her from reciting the familiar pledge. It had helped her threw her pervious life a few times, resonating with her more than the Green Lanterns oath about the power of will. There was another Lantern oath that spoke to her... but it  was a part of her she hoped to never show the Paladins or the Alteans.

Reaching out to them carefully, she could feel that Shiro was with Pidge, possibly telling her what really happened with Matt, as she felt relief flooding threw the two of them. Devine slowly breathed out a blue mist, laying down on the ground to watch the unfamiliar stars for a few more moments.


End file.
